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CHAPTER XXV. 



Concerning certain Implements and Appliances 

 USED IN French Gardens. 



The Cloche. — This is simply a large and cheap hell-glass, 

 ^Yhich is used in every French garden. It is the cloche which 

 enables the French market-gardeners to excel all others in the 

 production of winter and spring salads. Acres may be seen 

 covered with them round Paris, and private places have them in 

 proportion to their extent— from the small garden of the amateur 

 with a few dozen or score, to the large one where several hundreds 

 are required. They are about sixteen 

 inches high, and the same in diameter 

 at the base, and cost in France about 

 a franc a-picce, or a little less if 

 bought in quantity. The advantages 

 of the cloches are — they never require 

 any repairs ; they are easy of carriage 

 when carefully packed ; with ordinary 'i'"^ <-'<'<■-'" "^ ''^'•"' '« i^intfr- 



, ,, , , 1 Lettuce culture. 



care they are seldom broken ; they are 



easily cleaned ; are useful for many purposes besides salad-grow- 

 ing ; for example, in advancing various crops in spring, raising 

 seedlings, and striking cuttings. Every garden should be 

 furnished with them according to its size; and when we get 

 used to them and learn how very useful they are for many 

 things, from the developing of a Christmas Kose to the forward- 

 ing of early crops in spring, they will be much in demand. It is 

 not only in winter that they are useful, but at all seasons, both for 

 indoor and outdoor propagation and seed-sowing. In France, 



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