52 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. 



appears to show that plants grown in the manner below 

 described, which we have practiced for the past five 

 years, can be done cheaper, and, at the same time, will 

 produce nearly as good plants as by the old method of 

 wintering over in cold frames. 



For our latitude, we make our first sowing on February 

 1st in our greenhouses, where the temperature will aver- 

 age about seventy degrees ; that is, about sixty degrees 

 at night, and about eighty degrees during the day. Where 

 there is not the convenience of a greenhouse, a hot-bed 

 will answer the same purpose. A hot-bed, made with 

 manure, about two feet deep, in a proper manner, pro- 

 duces just about the same temperature and general con- 

 ditions as will a well-appointed greenhouse. We find it 

 more convenient to sow the seed in shallow boxes, which 

 are made by cutting the ordinary soap boxes into three 

 pieces, which gives us a depth of about two inches for 

 soil in each box. W T e use any light, rich soil for the pur- 

 pose, sowing enough seed in each box to produce 1,000 

 or 1,500 plants, or, if grown in the hot-bed without the 

 box, each three by six foot sash should grow about 5,000 

 plants ; but we find it more convenient to use the boxes 

 than to sow in the soil put direct on the bench of the 

 greenhouse, or on the manure of the hot-bed. The plants 

 sown on February 1 st, in a temperature averaging seventy 

 degrees, will give plants fit to transplant in about three 

 or four weeks. We then use the same shallow boxes, 

 putting in the bottom of each about one inch of well- 

 rotted stable manure. Over that we place an inch of any 

 ordinary light, rich soil, smoothing it so as to have it as 

 level as possible. In these boxes, which are fourteen by 

 twenty inches, we put an average of about 150 plants. 

 The boxes are then taken direct to the ordinary cold 

 frames, which, however, have been protected with ma- 

 nure, as it would not do to put the boxes of tender plants 

 on a frozen surface. It is very easy to keep the frost 



