ed tent-pins driven into the ground or to
wooden buttons fastened to the sides and ends of the frame as shown in
Fig. 16.

[Illustration: FIG. 16--TRANSPLANTING TOMATOES UNDER CLOTH-COVERED
FRAMES (Photo by Prof. W. G. Johnson)]

Cloth covers are sometimes dressed with oil, but this is not to be
recommended, though it is an advantage to have them wet occasionally
with a weak solution of copper sulphate or with sea water as a
preservative and to prevent mildew. Such covers, well cared for, may
last five years or be of little use after the first, depending upon the
care given them. They can be made from 50 to 200 feet long and two men
can roll them up or down very quickly.

When cloth covers are used the supporting cross-strips should not be
over 3 inches wide nor more than 3 feet apart; sometimes the strips are
made to bind the sideboard and ridge together by means of short pieces
of hoop iron or of barrel hoop. These are so placed and nailed as to
hold the upper edge of sideboards and of the central ridge flush with
the cross-strips, thus forming a smooth surface for cloth to rest on and
enabling one easily to "knock down" and remove the frames to facilitate
the taking of the plants from the bed to the field and the storing of
the frames for another season.

=Flats for starting seeds.=--Any shallow box may be used or the plants
sown directly in the beds without them, but flats of a uniform size are
to be preferred--these will pack well on the greenhouse shelves; or in
the hotbed we make them with 7/8 inch thick ends and 1/2 inch thick
sides and bottom, the latter if of a single board having four half-inch
holes for drainage and in any case having two narrow strips about 1/4
inch thick nailed across their bottoms so as to allow drainage water to
escape freely when the boxes are set on hard, cool floors. Two or three
such boxes, 35-1/2 inches long, 12 inches wide and 3 inches deep, will
be sufficient to start plants enough for an acre. I like to use similar
boxes only 4 inches deep for growing the plants after they are pricked
out, particularly if this is to be done in a greenhouse, as by turning
them we can equalize exposure to light and thus distribute the plants in
the field where they are to be set with the least possible disturbance.
One would need nearly 60 such boxes for plants enough for an acre. On
account of the lessened necessity for watering when plants are set in
beds rather than in boxes, many growers pr