OF THE 



UNIVERSITY 



FRAMES. 



the total cost ninety cents per foot. Therefore a 

 frame one hundred feet long, constructed as 

 described, with mats or boards for covering in 

 cold weather, will cost approximately ninety dol- 

 lars. Such a frame will hold about twelve hundred 

 plants, so that the cost of space per plant in this 

 case will be approximately eight cents. As will 

 be seen, this is the cheapest method for growing 

 plants, and for this reason many adopt it in the 

 beginning. There are so many disadvantages 

 in growing plants in frames however, that they 

 should not be used where it is possible to make a 

 house. The disadvantages are referred to in 

 detail in other places, so that it is not necessary 

 to name them here. 



The question of mats or of some means of pro- 

 tection during excessively cold weather is of great 

 importance, for unless such protection is given the 

 plants will be so severely frozen as to be made 

 useless. The backs and fronts of the frames must 

 also be protected as soon as cold weather sets in. 

 This is usually accomplished by banking up soil 

 or manure to within an inch or an inch and a half 

 of the top of the frame. The most common prac- 

 tice for protecting the plants is using ordinary 

 boards twelve inches wide and sixteen feet long. 

 These are simply laid on the frames when cold 

 weather comes on and serve in a measure to 

 exclude the frost. It is much work, however, to 

 put these boards on and take them off, for this 



