Making and Care of Hotbeds and Cold Frames 



The cold frame and hotbed are worthy of much wider 

 attention than they now enjoy. With their aid the autumn 

 season can be prolonged and the spring season hastened. 

 They will yield herbs and salads in variety in early spring 

 and hasten the starting of summer crops. To the flower 

 lover they are a real necessity for the carrying of many 

 things through the winter, and few people indeed have 

 ever fully developed the possibilities of pleasure possessed 

 by an ordinary glass-covered frame. 



The function of a cold frame is to ward off cold winds, 

 to keep the ground clear of snow, and in the spring to 

 increase the feeble heat of the slanting sunbeams, and 

 thus foster plant growth. 



The construction is simple. The back board is usually 

 twelve inches and the front eight inches wide. The two 

 are connected by a tapered board twelve inches wide at 

 one end and eight inches at the other. Standard sash are 

 3x6 feet, and it takes a box of 6x8 inch glass to glaze 

 three sash. The frame work can be readily made by a 

 local carpenter or any one handy with tools; and when 

 complete the frame is set in a sheltered, well-drained 

 position, usually near the house. 



A cold frame is simply a frame having sash, but no 

 other means of heating. Fill the frame with soil 6 inches 

 deep in front and 8 or 9 inches at the back ; make shal- 

 low drills, 3 inches or 4 inches apart, across the face of 

 the soil in the frame, and in these sow the seeds, covering 

 them thinly and tamping them gently; then water mod- 

 erately through a fine hose. Now put on the sash, and 



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