J38 TITE CANADIAN HORTICULTUMST. 



feel the first warm, breath of the south wind, and enjoy all the sun- 

 light as the days begin to lengthen. As a sash is usually about three 

 feet wide and six long, a frame of boards should be set up on the- 

 bed by running two boards, set on edge, parallel to each other, and 

 nearly three feet apart, so that the sash may rest on them ; and a board 

 at the back ten or twelve inches wide, and another at the front seven 

 or eight inches wide, to give- the sash sufficient pitch to carry off the 

 rain and catch to the best advantage the rays of the sun. These boards 

 can be held in their places by nailing them to posts placed in th© 

 corners. In a sash of this size, five or six hundred lettuce plants can 

 be safely wintered. That will be quite sufficient for the wants of a 

 family of the average number ; those who require more can increase 

 the number of sashes. 



The cold frame should be ready to receive the plants by the middle 

 of October. By this time the lettuce plants will be ready for trans- 

 planting, and may be set in the frame two inches apart each way. Of 

 course they will need a little attention to see that they do not suffer 

 for want of water, or from weeds springing up among them. When 

 winter approaches, they will need to be protected by covering with 

 the sash at night, and when the weather becomes very cold it will 

 some of the time be necessary to leave the sash on all day. The plants 

 are sufficiently hardy, if properly treated, to endure twenty degrees of 

 frosts — that is, they will not perish if not exposed to a lower tempera- 

 ture than twelve degrees^ Fahrenheit. Buf in order to enable them 

 to endure that temperature safely, they should be abundantly aired on 

 every mild day by lifting up the sash at the back, and keeping it tilted 

 up while the weather will admit, and closing it only when necessary. 

 On fine days the sash should be drawn off altogether, and the plants 

 exposed as fully as possible, unless, indeed, the thermometer indicate 

 too great a degree of cold. In this way the plants will be kept hardy 

 and vigorous, able to endure the changes of temperature with no other 

 covering than the sash, even though the thermometer outside the frame 

 falls to zero. In those parts of the country where the cold is much 

 below zero, it will be necessary to add a straw mat to the covering 

 of sash. 



When the spring has opened, and the ground become quite settled 

 and in condition for working, a bed should be prepared and the lettuce 

 plants transplanted into it about twenty inches apart each way* 



