254 



change our plans every time an} r one frowns upon them, 

 we shall not get along very fast." 



By noon that day Robert had placed his new hot-bed 

 frame in a sheltered spot on the sunny side of the barn, 

 and had placed the three glass sashes over it. As I went 

 out to call him to dinner, I glanced into the frame, and 

 found it nearly full of broken lumps of frozen soil. The 

 sun shining through the glass was rapidly thawing and 

 crumbling them to pieces. 



"What are you trying to do, Robert?" 



"Trying to thaw out a part of our farm. I placed 

 those bits of frozen soil under the glass, and guessed they 

 would soon melt. I have guessed right, it seems. By to- 

 morrow I think we shall have some nice dry soil to sow 

 our seeds in. But come, let us dine. After that we 

 will go at our books again, and see if we can find out how 

 many lettuce-plants we can raise. From all I gathered 

 in the village this morning, I guess we can sell all we 

 can produce." 



This excited my curiosity, and as soon as we were 

 fairly s'eated at the table, I asked for further information. 



" The story is just this. I asked the man at the mar- 

 ket if he ever bought lettuce in the spring. Yes, he did, 

 large quantities. He could sell more if he was not obliged 

 to transport it so far. This was too indefinite for me, 



