Five-foot posts are set 1 foot in the ground and a wire strung at top and bottom. The lath are fastened to the wires with string, as shown in the second cut. The trellis is made in sections so as to be

TRELLIS IN PLACE IN THE GARDEN

easily handled. When not in use it is folded up and laid away under shelter. The posts are spaced evenly so that one section of trellis will just go between two posts.

EASY WAY TO POLE BEANS

Set posts at convenient distances apart and stretch a wire at the top. This may be done as soon as ground is plowed. Plant and cultivate one row each side of line until beans begin to vine, then

WXXX

TRELLIS FOR BEANS

set poles slanting, tying them together where they cross at the wire. This braces the whole row and beans can be cultivated with hoe. Hills 3 feet apart in row with one vine to hill are better than two vines.

TRELLIS THAT STANDS ALONE

A plant support or garden trellis, such as shown in the drawing, is very handy in the garden. This

DOUBLE FORM OF TRELLIS

double form of trellis can be folded up and takes very little room in storage. All trellises and stakes should be gathered as soon as the crop is harvested and stored under cover until the next season. They are useful

for tomatoes, beans, peas, cucumbers and other plants that need some support. The double trellis is built of narrow 1⁄2-inch slats and pieces of 2 x 3, which are bolted together for the legs. The top may be held in place by pieces of string or wire attached at the points indicated in the drawing. The length, width and height of this trellis should depend upon the use to be made of it. A large one will be wanted for a large spreading plant and a small one for a small plant. It is important to have trellises just the right size to give proper support.

PROTECTING NEWLY SET PLANTS

Plants newly transplanted always demand more or less protection from the blighting effects of too much sun and wind. It is best achieved by making a shelter such as is shown in the cut. Two 10

foot poles and two 3-foot pieces of any convenient thickness for the crosspieces, with four 14-inch weather-strips for the legs, constitute the frame. In the middle of it two hooks should be inserted on each side, and upon these the covering fastened, which can thus be adjusted very quickly. The covering may consist of burlap or any kind of rough sacking.

Being so simple and economical to make, it is advisable to have enough frames to protect the number of tender plants that are set out in a garden at one time. They possess other advantages than sheltering the young things from the direct rays of the sun. They allow slow evaporation, and so keep newly watered ground moist for hours, whereas if exposed to the sun and wind it would soon become dry and caked. On windy days it is only necessary to let the sacking down on the windward side of the shelter. In case of frost the protection that they afford is of inestimable value.

Love thy neighbor, yet pull not down thy hedge.

MAKING THE HOTBED

The value of every vegetable garden can be greatly increased and the time during which a supply of fresh vegetables may be secured for the table greatly lengthened by the use of the common manure hotbed and the cold frame. These indispensable adjuncts of the good garden are so easily made and cost so little that it is surprising they are not more common. A good hotbed made the latter part of February or in March can be made to yield an abundant supply of lettuce, radishes, spinach, etc., for table use by the time such crops are being planted out of doors, and the supply of cabbage, tomatoes and other plants for the home garden can be secured ready to transplant several weeks earlier than if plants grown in the open were depended upon.

As a source of heat fresh horse manure is used. About half manure and half fine straw mixed together should be piled in square piles 2 or 3 feet in depth, and 4 or 5 feet in width and long enough to contain the amount necessary for the beds desired. After heating has well started, the piles should be forked over, turning the outside of the old pile to the inside of the new, and when heating again is well under way the material is ready for use. In the meantime select a well-drained spot, sloping to the south, if possible.

Dig a trench 61⁄2 feet wide, 2 feet deep and as long as desired, running east and west. Now place the manure in the trench, tramping and packing in thin, even layers until level with the surface. Make a frame 6 feet wide and as long as desired, but some multiple of three, because the hotbed sash are always made 3 feet wide. The end piece should

be 9 inches high in front and 15 inches high in the back. The front side board should be 9 inches wide and for the rear it will require two boards, preferably 12 and 3, with the wide one at the top.

A frame 12 or 15 feet in length will be quite large enough for the ordinary farm garden. Set this frame on top of the manure with the slope facing the south and secured by stakes. On top of the manure put 6 inches of good garden soil and cover the frame with common sash or windows 6 feet long by 3 feet wide. At first the heat will run very high, but in a few days it will fall to 80 or 90 degrees, when it is safe to plant the seeds.

MAKING PERMANENT HOTBEDS

Hotbed sash should be constructed of white pine or of cypress, and the sash bars should run in one direction only, and that lengthwise of the sash. The bars may be braced through the middle by a transverse bar placed through the long bars below the glass. The two ends of the sash should be made of sound timber, 3 inches wide at the top and 4 inches wide at the bottom end, mortised to receive the ends of the sash bars, and with a tenon at the ends to pass through the side pieces, which should be 21⁄2 inches wide.

A permanent hotbed should be so constructed as to be heated either with fermenting manure or by radiating pipes from the dwelling or greenhouse heating plant. For a permanent bed, in which manure is to supply the heat, a pit 2 to 21⁄2 feet deep, according to the latitude in which the work is to be done, should be provided.

The sides and ends may be supported by a lining of plank supported by posts 4 feet apart, or, what