136 The Profitable Culture of Vegetables. 



of cold frames, comparatively tender plants can be safely 

 transferred to open-air beds in a sheltered position if a light 

 frame-work of laths is placed over the bed, upon which mats 

 can be spread at night. Early produce ,of various kinds, such 

 as peas, beans, marrows, radishes, carrots, turnips, &c., may be 

 produced very successfully in trenches thrown out 18in. deep, 

 filled to half the depth with well worked hot manure, trodden 

 in firmly, and covered with Sin. of fine soil taken from the 

 trench, the remainder of the soil being used to form ridges on 

 either side. Sticks are laid across the trench, resting on the 

 ridges, and mats are laid on these each night until danger of 

 frost is past. 



A practically frost-proof bed, in which tomatoes and similar 

 tender plants can be set out early in May, can be made by en- 

 closing it with mats on hurdles and then stretching wires at 

 intervals along the bed upon which mats can be spread at 

 night, to be rolled up again next morning. If a little warm 

 manure is put under the plants to raise the temperature of the 

 soil, this arrangement will answer almost as well as a cold 

 house, and will entail much less labour. 



Glass-covered Protectors. Strawberries may be ripened in 

 the open field from a week to ten days in advance of their 

 normal season, in the following manner : Run two boards on 

 edge parallel, 12in. apart, on each side of a row of strawberry 

 plants set 9in. apart in the row. The boards are kept in 



Glass-covered Plant Protector. 



position by pegs, driven into the ground at convenient distances 

 apart, to which they are nailed. The board at the north side 

 of the row should be higher than that at the south, say 8in?and 

 6in. respectively, and each should have a groove run in, Jin. 

 deep, |in. from the top. Sheets of glass, resting in these 



