Cold Vegetable Houses. — 79 



system, it is true, gives us about 7 square feet of glass-covered area 

 for the same money, but considering the waste space (near the front 

 side of frame for instance) and other disadvantages, the difference 

 in cost of the working surface is hardly worth mentioning. The 

 forcing house, on the other hand, gives us a comfortable place to 

 work in, a chance to work to best advantage in a natural position, 

 instead of lying over the beds on our stomachs, and to work on 

 days when the weather would not permit keeping the beds exposed, 

 or working outdoors without great inconvenience. Considering 

 all the points — the chances for continuous cropping, the full utili- 

 zation of all available space, the ease of management, and the 

 convenient method of planting, sowing, weeding, etc., and the 

 satisfaction generally which it affords — I do not hesitate to pro- 

 nounce the house a model of cheapness and convenience. It 

 may not economize the heat as well as if built lower, and in the 

 shape of the heated forcing houses described in next chapter, 

 yet its shape is preferable for many reasons. Comfort, conveni- 

 ence, avoidance of backache, etc., are worth as much to the 

 gardener as to people in other pursuits of life. The satisfaction 

 which the possession of such a house affords is alone worth a 

 good deal. There are people of means who would rather have a 

 more costly and more elaborate affair. These when intending 

 to build a forcing house, should consult agricultural architects, 

 and the catalogues of manufacturers of greenhouses and green- 

 house supplies. I have no advice for them. The house which 

 I have described will also be suitable for localities with longer 

 and colder winters, but it will need artificial heating, and this can 

 easily be provided by putting in a furnace and a system of hot- 

 water or steam pipes. Two one-inch steam, or two-inch hot- 

 water pipes around the sides and south end will probably give all 

 the heat required for the purpose of forcing hardy vegetables. 



Growing the Crops. — The cold house being put up and 

 ready for use by the first of November or December, the whole 

 tillable ground is made very rich by the free application of fine 

 compost, thoroughly spaded or forked in, with perhaps an addi- 

 tional top dressing of composted and thoroughly fined hen 

 manure. If the soil is of a clayey nature, and the compost does 

 not make it sufficiently porous, spread a few loads of sand over 

 it, and mix the whole by spading or forking over. The gardener 

 can afford to prepare the ground well, for his 2,500 square feet 

 are calculated to give larger returns in cash than a hundred times 

 that area,of farming land can be expected to do. The first crop 

 to be grown, same as in cold-frame forcing, is spinach. The rows 

 are marked ofi 8 or 9 inches apart crosswise of the house, and 

 the seed sown in the usual way, leaving a path through the 

 centre from door (at north end) to rear. Watering should be 



