258 AROUND THE YEAR IN THE GARDEN 



The standard sash, three feet by six in size (and preferably 

 having three instead of four rows of glass, as more light is 

 obtained) does not need any description here, as everyone 

 is familiar with it; of these, one should have two or three 

 times as many as of the double sash; and then there are the 

 sash made with light wooden frames and covered with pro- 

 tecting cloth; these are not nearly so well known nor so 

 largely used as they should be, but they will keep off several 

 degrees of frost and for many uses will answer Just as well, 

 and in some cases even better than glass: and, furthermore, 

 in severe weather they can be used in the place of mats or 

 shutters over the glass sash. 



The frames on which the sash are supported may be of 

 inch boards and two by four inch uprights for holding these 

 in place; the usual dimensions are two feet in back and a 

 foot and a half in front, which gives a slope sufficient to 

 carry all the rain water off the sash, and also catches the 

 sunlight at a better angle. Frames which are to be used as 

 hot-beds — that is, supplied with manure to give artificial 

 heat in cold weather — should be made a foot or eighteen 

 inches deeper on the inside. While the board frames may 

 be banked up with earth on the outside, so as to be imper- 

 vious to frost and cold wind, and, if substantially made, 

 will last for a number of years, nevertheless, it is far better 

 to go to a little more trouble and possibly a greater expense, 

 and have the frames made of concrete. If you cannot have 

 them all made this way, then those which are to be used as a 

 hot-bed at least should be so constructed, as these are used 

 for more months in the year and the rotting caused by the 

 manure will cause them, if made of wood, to go to pieces more 

 quickly than the ordinary cold-frames. A sill or cap of 

 wood or iron — preferably the latter — ^may be bought to put 

 on top of the concrete, and is so constructed that the sash 

 will fit firmly on it. 



The Cost of Equipment 



The amount of garden stuff which can you get out of a 

 limited space which is taken up by your frames is truly re- 



