CHAPTER XXXVI 



WAYS AND MEANS 



THE cardinal truth which the gardener learns at the very 

 outset of his practical experience, that next year's garden 

 is made out of this year's, is never brought home to him 

 more vividly and convincingly than when he essays the task of pro- 

 pagating a few plants which shall increase his stock and provide 

 him with the wherewithal to furnish his flower beds and borders 

 another season. If his ambition be, as it will be when the love of 

 gardening has gripped him, to depend mainly upon his own un- 

 aided efforts for his supply of young plants, he will also come to 

 realise that his hobby demands perennial and constant attention, 

 and that either in the direction of seed-sowing and propagation 

 by means of cuttings or layering he will find a task ready to his 

 hand during every month in the year. 



But in order to achieve success he must have the necessary 

 appliances. He will require to call hi artificial aids, and among 

 them all the cold frame is the most indispensable. For tender and 

 half-hardy plants, the shelter of the warm greenhouse will be 

 necessary at certain stages of their development, while yet an- 

 other useful adjunct, especially in early spring, will be found in 

 the hotbed over which a glass-covered frame can be placed to 

 conserve the heat. The subject of greenhouse management is 

 discussed in another part of this book and I need not therefore 

 enlarge upon it at this point. 



It is, however, upon the cold frame that the amateur will 

 largely depend for his propagating operations at the outset, and 

 the provision of this invaluable accessory to the well-equipped 

 garden demands some consideration. The frame need not be a 

 very elaborate affair. In my own garden I have a home-made 

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