Raising Annuals in Greenhouse or Frame 
and each has its own value. A well-managed 
hot-bed of leaves and manure is, indeed, one 
of the best places to raise seedlings, Cineraria, 
Calceolaria, Zinnia, and China Aster, among 
others, revelling in the degree of warmth, 
humidity, and the ammonia-charged atmospheric 
conditions that obtain. To some extent the 
seedling plants, too, are more immune from the 
attacks of aphides (green and other fly pests) 
than those raised under ordinary conditions. 
The ordinarily made dung-bed will require 
greater care. Excessive heat and rank steam 
are injurious, therefore to be avoided. Ventila- 
tion, too, is important. A safeguard against 
the former is a shallow bed of manure, say 
i foot in thickness when settled down, or feet 
when first made up. Watering, too, must be 
done with care, the amount of humidity in the 
frame and the condensing moisture playing 
important parts. Watering with tepid water 
is to be recommended, likewise the use of a 
thermometer. A temperature between 45 0 and 
50° will do quite well. 
The cold frame should occupy a sun-kissed 
spot. It is of especial value in cold districts 
and in gardens generally where, by reason of 
heavy and retentive soil conditions, seed-sowing 
in the open air rarely brings success. In certain 
other instances— the small amateur more par- 
ticularly — the frame often enough is the only 
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