PART FIRST. 



GROWING PLANTS UNDER GLASS. 



IN this broad and fair but fickle and undu- 

 lating clime, where Dame Nature's promises 

 of flowery spring - time are so frequently 

 frowned upon by a polar wave, which drives 

 the life-blood back to the very heart of every 

 unprotected living thing, some kind of pro- 

 tection from the lingering wintry blasts is an 

 absolute necessity to every grower of early 

 garden vegetables, whether he be a producer 

 of them in large quantities for market pur- 

 poses, or only seeks to supply his own table 

 with early delicacies, or his garden with 

 plants which are to be the germs of future 

 substantials. Some kind of protection from 

 the cold above, and an addition to the natu- 

 ral warmth below the growing plants, is 

 required ; and to meet this end, the heat 

 which is developed by the slow combustion 

 of vegetable matter or the decomposition of 



