88 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN 



I 



ing in the hotbed or in the open border. It is also of 

 prime importance where crowded conditions in the 

 hotbed make transplanting into temporary quarters 

 desirable. If half the plants can be lifted and set a 

 couple of inches apart in a coldframe the advantage 

 is evident. 



For temporary uses like this, a very good construc- 

 tive arrangement of a coldframe is to have the frame 

 fastened together with pins or bolts so that it can be 

 taken apart when no longer needed. 



A spent hotbed furnishes a most excellent cold- 

 frame as the soil is rich in plant food, but has the ob- 

 jection of being needed before the ground is ready to 

 receive the plants that must be disturbed ; a coldframe 

 solves this difficulty as they may be put into it tem- 

 porarily. Pansies should always be started in cold- 

 frames if wanted for early spring blooming, though 

 these can usually go into the open ground as soon as 

 it can be worked in the spring. 



For the early starting of seeds where neither a hot- 

 bed or coldframe is available, flats in the house offer 

 an excellent substitute. Wherever a warm, sunny 

 window — ^preferably a south or an east one, is avail- 

 able, excellent results will follow indoor culture. Shal- 

 low boxes — not over five inches deep for the large 

 growths and two for fine, greenhouse plants, of any 

 convenient size should be chosen. Boxes narrow 

 enou^ to rest on the window sill, or better still, a 



