208 Commercial Gardening 



expensive than those succeeding. Taking one three-light frame (13 ft. by 



4 ft. 5 in) as a unit (and thirty cloches as corresponding in area), about 

 2 tons of stable manure per frame would be required for the season's work. 

 Thus a garden containing 300 frames and 3000 cloches would require 

 about 800 tons of manure annually, at a cost varying from 4s. to 7s. per ton. 

 The first year or two, however, it would be well to have about 1000 tons, in 

 case of accident, for extra linings, &c. 



The manure should be brought in at intervals, from August to No- 

 vember, so that it may not be all fresh or all stale at one time. The 

 manure should be stacked up in square heaps if dry, and should be watered 

 and turned occasionally to bring it into a proper state for making up the 

 beds. 



Early in the season very little fresh hot manure is necessary, owing 

 to the mild weather, but in the depth of winter plenty of hot steaming 

 manure must be used. This is not only necessary to generate the requisite 

 heat in the frames and cloches, but also to maintain it by "lining" the 

 frames, that is, banking them up outside and between each other. In this 

 way only can the heat be maintained in severe winters, and two or three 

 layers of mats may be also necessary over the lights and cloches if very 

 hard frosts indeed prevail. 



Making* the Beds. All plant beds in French gardens, whether under 

 frames or cloches or in the open air, are of uniform width, namely, 4 ft. 



5 in., with a pathway of 1 ft. between, making 5 ft. 5 in. altogether. The 

 length may vary, but, as a rule, they are arranged so that five frames with 

 fifteen lights are placed end to end, thus making the length of each bed 

 about 65 ft. before an intersecting pathway comes. By arranging all the 

 beds in this way the frames and cloches are readily interchangeable from 

 one bed to another. This is a great advantage, as it often happens that 

 frames and lights and cloches that might otherwise be lying idle after their 

 crops have been gathered, are immediately transferred over other crops, 

 which will be hastened into maturity more quickly by the extra warmth 

 and protection. 



It should be mentioned that frames and pathways are purposely narrow 

 for two reasons. First, during the winter season it would be often dan- 

 gerous to open the lights or cloches to supply water to the crops, as the 

 latter might be chilled and checked so much in growth that they would be 

 a failure. Water, however, being an essential of plant growth, must be 

 present in sufficient abundance, or the crops would also fail. To avoid this, 

 the rain or water falling on the frames drips into the narrow pathways 

 between and is soaked up by the manure in the same way that water is 

 soaked up by a sponge. The beds, being only about 4 ft. 6 in. wide, allow 

 therefore for a soakage inwards and upwards by capillary attraction for 

 about 2 ft. 3 in. on each side from the pathways. It is fairly obvious that 

 if the beds were, say, 6 or 8 ft. wide, the plants in the centre would prob- 

 ably perish either from drought, or by giving them water overhead the 

 entire crop would be endangered. 



