Capacity of Frames 337 



If one is growing particular crops, as tomatoes, fifteen sash 

 may be sufficient. For the best kind of home gardening, 

 when it is desired to mature spring lettuce and radishes 

 under glass as well as to transplant stuff into the open, 

 thirty-five to fifty sash may be needed to the acre. 



In growing plants for transplanting, a sash may be esti- 

 mated to accommodate 400 to 500 cabbage and cauliflower 

 plants, 300 to 400 tomatoes and eggplants, 600 to 800 let- 

 tuces. When the plants are transplanted in the frames, 

 only one-third to two-thirds these numbers can be accom- 

 modated. If the plants are started very late and are not 

 transplanted, as many as 800 tomato or cabbage plants 

 can be grown under one sash. In general, one may expect 

 to gain three weeks to one month on the crop of hardy 

 things like cabbages, and two to three weeks on tomatoes. 

 To gain two weeks on the crop, however, it is necessary 

 to gain three or four weeks on the sowing. In extra-good 

 hotbeds, greater gain can be secured; but it is not common.. 



In calculating the amount of glass required, the gardener 

 must remember that many of his plants may fail after they 

 are set in the field. There are risks of frost, cold rains, 

 droughts, worms, accidents. He may lose plants while 

 they are still in the frames. The grower should start at 

 least fifty per cent more plants than he expects to raise. 

 The surplus may J)e left in the frames until the trans- 

 planted subjects are thoroughly established and safe. 



The following sample estimate, by a gardener, illustrates 

 the method of casting up one's outlay for the season's 

 glass. It is an estimate for a market-garden of one acre, 

 for a general line of vegetables. It supposes that half of 

 the acre is to be set with plants from hotbeds : 



