20 THE SCHOOL GARDEN BOOK 



and transportation. A school may sell plants at a third or 

 a fourth of the usual retail prices and yet secure a good income, 

 since the costs named above are not incurred and the labor 

 cost is nothing, because it is incidental to garden instruction 

 and training. 



A cold frame is a great help in raising plants for sale, even 

 in the case of vegetables, as it enables one to place lettuce and 

 radishes on the market before their price declines. A cold 

 frame requires no special skill: it is merely a glazed sash, or 

 several sashes, resting on low plank sides so as to incline to 

 the south, and serving both to trap the sun's heat and to 

 protect plants from frost, wind, and beating rains. Under 

 its cover annual flowering plants may be thickly planted in 

 March. The hardy sorts may be pricked out in the open in 

 April, leaving space to transplant tender kinds within the 

 frames. In May and June these are ready for sale to the 

 public, and for award as prizes to children whose home 

 gardens show that the plants from school will receive careful 

 culture at their hands. When the frames are cleaned of 

 annuals, seeds of biennial and perennial flowering plants may 

 be sown. By late August these may be transplanted. The 

 fully hardy sorts may be set in the open garden. This gives 

 frame space to separate half hardy kinds, such as pansies and 

 daisies, wallflower and snapdragon. Those that are trans- 

 planted with difficulty, like oriental poppies, may be set in 

 pots sunk in the soil of the frames. All of these will be ready 

 for sale in early spring, and in time to give room for separating 

 seedlings of annuals needing frame protection. This general 

 plan has met success in schools of both western and eastern 

 cities. 



There is ready sale for pots of bulbs which have been well 



