6o— How to Make the Garden Pay. 



we often find the liveliest demand for well-grown wintered plants 

 at paying figures, ^^4.00 to ^5.00 per i,ooo, being the usual price, 

 which gives an average of $2.00 to ^2.50 for the plants covered 

 by one sash. 



One of the most successful gardeners says : " I would pre- 

 fer such wintered plants at $10 per thousand to spring (hot-bed) 

 grown plants as a gift — not to speak of the worthless plants that 

 are shipped every spring by the hundred thousand from the 

 South, and palmed off on the public as cold-frame-wintered 

 plants." If, on account of failure or neglect, the frames are not 

 provided with plants, and these are needed for early use, the next 

 best method of growing them is the following : pack a layer of 

 fermenting horse manure all around the cold frames, and sow the 

 seed in them in February; or still better, use hot-beds as directed 

 under proper heading. 



Another, and a very important use of the cold frames is for 

 the production of spinach, radishes, parsley, soup celery, carrots, 

 beets, etc., for early market. Spinach may be sown in the 

 autumn, and marketed during the winter, or as soon as the crop 

 is large enough, and prices acceptable. The frames can then be 

 replanted with the same or some other crop. Vegetables thus 

 grown in cold frames often find ready sale and remunerative 

 prices in April or May. The extent to which the gardener can 

 engage in this work depends on local conditions, and these must 

 be consulted. Make the soil in the frames very rich by mixing 

 it freely with good compost. Watering the beds with weak solu- 

 tions of nitrate of soda generally has marked results in pro- 

 ducing quick growth, heavy development of foliage and excellent 

 quality, especially crispness and tenderness. Always sow the 

 seeds in rows across the beds. Early " marketableness " and the 

 greatly desired uniformity can only be secured by attention to 

 proper thinning, and this should be given just as soon as the 

 young plants are large enough to show individual thrift and other 

 qualities, so the most promising may be left, and the undesirable 

 ones removed. Growing crops under glass is an expensive busi- 

 ness on account of the glass and the attention it requires, and 

 space is valuable. Hence, to attain satisfactory results, we must 

 aim to cover the whole area under glass with vegetable growth, 

 yet without undue crowding. Not a single square inch of the 

 available area should be left unutilized, and yet not a single plant 

 checked in its development for lack of space. This is a matter 

 requiring considerable care and judgment, and without these 

 failure is more certain than success. 



The results of a series of careful experiments made by 

 observing and inquisitive growers of cold frame crops right in my 

 immediate neighborhood seem to speak in favor of the distances 



