and the glass, to allow for the growth of plants
before the sashes can be removed. Coarse litter should be put around the
frame, and up even with the top of it, to confine the heat. Beds should
be well covered before the sun has left them in the afternoon, and not
opened in the morning until the sun is well up. Seeds of vegetables for
early planting, and those of annual flowers may be sown, and cuttings of
green-house and bedding plants started in pots. Such a bed will also be
a favorable place for the propagation of grape eyes, in which an
experienced person will often succeed better by this humble means, than
with the best designed and most conveniently arranged propagating house.

[Illustration: FIG. 2.]

THE COLD PIT.

Many who have not the advantage of a green-house, wish to preserve over
the winter their half-hardy plants which have ornamented their garden
during the summer. These are generally consigned to the cellar to dry up
and be forgotten. In the darkness they loose their leaves, and when in
spring they are again brought to light many are dried up and dead.
Properly constructed cold pits offer superior advantages for the
protection of many plants of a half-hardy nature, and indeed some that
are usually considered tender here find a congenial location. Such a pit
should be permanent in its character, and located in a spot easy of
access to the house, that it may receive proper attention during the
winter. A convenient size, and one sufficient for an ordinary garden
would be ten feet long by five wide, varied somewhat from these
dimensions to suit size of glass in sashes. The pit should be excavated
four feet and a half below the surface, and a hollow wall of brick built
up to one foot above the surface. Six inches in depth of coarse gravel
should be placed in the bottom on which the pots containing the plants
rest. Shelves may be also placed around the sides for the smaller
plants. The wall above the ground should be "banked up" to within three
inches of the top and sodded.

[Illustration: FIG. 3.--_Cold Pit._]

Double sashes we have found give great protection and save attention in
covering the pit. The bars of these sashes are "rabbited" on both sides
and double glazed, thus enclosing a stratum of air affording a good
non-conductor of heat from within, or cold from without the pit. The
plants when first put in the pit will require to be watered and the
sashes opened during the day, until cold weathe