CHAPTEE XIV 



GLASS 



To protect and forward plants, various covers are used; 

 and these covers, of every kind and description, are usu- 

 ally spoken of as " glass,^' even though paper or cloth may 

 sometimes be employed in place of glass. They comprise 

 all the range of forcing-hills, coldframes, hotbeds and 

 glasshouses. 



Every vegetable-gardener, however small his area, needs 

 glass. Thereby is he enabled to secure a crop in advance 

 of its normal season. He becomes, in a measure, independ- 

 ent of season or even of climate. The vegetable-gardener 

 is less subject to loss from vagaries of frost than is the 

 fruit-grower. He can cover his plants. The plants are 

 also more amenable to treatment : he can sometimes harden 

 them off, so that they withstand frost. He can grow them 

 at such times as to escape the dangerous season : the fruit- 

 grower's plants must stand and take it. 



The purpose of glass is to forward plants in advance of 

 their season or beyond it. This result is obtained by pro- 

 tecting the plants from unpropitious weather or by actu- 

 ally forcing them. An example of the former object is 

 the protection in winter of hardy plants started in the 

 fall. The plants are kept alive in the cold weather by 

 means of the covering, but they do not grow. There are 



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