48 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. 



only a limited number, which I had neglected to suf- 

 ficiently harden by airing. 



We have still another use of the sashes to detail. Our 

 Lettuce being cut out by middle of May, we then plant 

 five or six seeds of the Improved White Spine Cucum- 

 ber in the center of each sash. At that season they 

 come up -at once, protected by the covering at night. 

 The sashes are left on until the middle of June, when 

 the crop begins to be sold. The management of the Cu- 

 cumber crop as regards airing is hardly different from 

 that of the Lettuce, except in its early stage of growth it 

 requires to be kept warmer. Being a tropical plant, it is 

 very impatient of being chilled, but in warm days airing 

 should never b3 neglected, as the concentration of the 

 sun's rays on the glass would raise the temperature to an 

 extent to injure, if not entirely destroy, the crop. This 

 third use of the sashes I have never yet made so profit- 

 able as the second, because the crop has to compete 

 against Southern grown Cucumbers, although it has al- 

 ways been sufficient to make it well worth the labor. 



There are a few men here who make a profitable busi- 

 ness from the use of sashes only, having no ground except 

 that occupied by the frames. In this way the winter crop 

 of Cauliflower or Cabbage plants is sold at an average of $3 

 per sash in March or April ; the Lettuce*at $2 per sash 

 in May, and the Cucumbers at $1 per sash in June, 

 making an average of $6 per sash for the season ; and it 

 must be remembered that these are wholesale prices, and 

 that, too, in the market of New York, where there is 

 great competition. There is no doubt that in hundreds 

 of cities and towns of the Union the same use of sashes 

 would double or treble these results. 



Cold frames are also used for sowing the seeds of Cab- 

 bage, Cauliflower and Lettuce, instead of hot-beds. If 

 the frames are closely shut up and covered at night by 

 mats, the plants will be but little later than those from 



