66 



VEGETABLE GARDENING. 



for eacli corner and to support the sides firmly in place and sash 

 and shutters to cover. The plants should be made into a box 

 with its width equal to the length of the sash and extending east 

 and west. See figure 24. Those forming the north side should 

 be six inches above ground, and the top edge of the plank forming 

 the southerly side should be five inches lower. Thus when the 

 sash is put on, it will slope five inches to the south, as shown in 

 figure. The planks should be nailed to the stakes, and end pieces 

 put in. The earth inside the frame should be thrown out to the 

 bottom of the planks and used to bank up the outside of the 

 frame. The soil of the frame should be of the best quality if 

 plants are to be grown in it. The frame is now ready for the sash 

 and plants. More durable and expensive frames are sometimes 

 made of brick or stone for the sides, and sometimes four-inch 

 strips are put on wherever two of the sashes come together, to 

 serve as a support. Frames are also frequently made several 

 feet deep, but the same general rule applies in the building of 

 them as are here given. 



Cold frames are used in the middle states to winter over 

 cabbage and lettuce plants. The plants are started in September 

 and planted into them when grown to a good transplanting size. 

 In severe climates this is not a safe method. 



Cold frames are used here in the spring for forwarding let- 

 tuce and other early crops, and still later for melons, cucumbers 

 and other tropical plants. They are also used to extend the 

 season of growth during the autumn months and to protect some 

 of the half-hardy plants, such as spinach, during the winter. 

 They require ventilation during the day in mild weather, and on 

 cold nights should be covered with mats and shutters or shutters 

 alone. They are very inexpensive and very useful in the garden, 

 but where the materials for making them can be had at low cost 

 hotbeds are much more satisfactory for forcing vegetables. 



Hotbeds. — Hotbeds are made very much like cold frames, 

 only they are warmed by fermenting horse manure or other 

 material placed under the soil, and hence they must be dug out 

 deep enough to make room for it. The amount of manure neces- 

 sary to properly warm a hotbed will depend very much on the 

 season of the year at which the bed is made up and the crop 

 to be grown. In the colder northern states when the hotbeds are 



