VEGETABLE GARDENING 27 



open. A piece of sheet iron as wide as the in- 

 side of the box and four inches longer, has two 

 inches turned up at right angles at each end. 

 This is tacked to the inside of the box so that it 

 will be held in place, two inches below the top of 

 the box. The sheet iron receives and distributes 

 the heat from the lamp beneath. The lamp 

 should be so placed that the top of the chimney 

 is four inches below the sheet iron. Cleats are 

 nailed on the outside of the box above the door, 

 and on the outside opposite, to support the air 

 chamber, which is made of two boards six feet 

 long and six inches wide, boarded over the ends 

 and bottom, except where it is slipped over the 

 top of the lamp chamber. This should fit snugly 

 so that there will be no waste of heat. It is best 

 to line the entire inside of both the lamp chamber 

 and the hot air chamber with cheap asbestos 

 paper, pasting it on with common flour paste. A 

 small hole must be provided near the bottom of 

 the lamp chamber for ingress of fresh air, or the 

 lamp will not burn well. Three " flats" or shal- 

 low boxes, five inches deep, twenty-four inches 

 wide and twenty-six inches long, will form the 

 cover for the hot air chamber. Fill the flats with 

 rich compost mixed with fine sand, and as soon 

 as the soil becomes mildly warm, it is ready to 

 receive the seed. The lamp heats the diaphragm 

 of sheet iron, this in turn imparts its warmth to 

 the hot air chamber and then heats the soil in the 

 flats above. The flats should contain three 

 inches of soil. In this the plants will thrive won- 

 derfully. 

 Each flat will grow 150 plants. After the 



