CHAPTER FIVE 



THE CONSTRUCTION AND CARE OF HOT- 

 BEDS, COLDFRAMES, AND PITS 



1 o attempt to garden without the aid of a well- 

 equipped and constructed hotbed is to put one at 

 a disadvantage in the beginning of the season a 

 disadvantage which strenuous effort and the most 

 favourable of seasons will rarely compensate one 

 for, as a well-stocked and successful hotbed will 

 supply the garden with an immense amount of 

 plants of the most desirable varieties at the mini- 

 mum of cost and at just the season that they will 

 be needed. 



The possession of a hotbed greatly advances the 

 garden season, as the seed may be planted and the 

 plants brought to a suitable size for planting out 

 by the time that, lacking this convenience, the seed 

 would be going into the open ground. This ad- 

 vances the season some six weeks, and makes an 

 appreciable difference in the maturing of plants 



and vegetables. 



[47] 



