CHAPTER X. 

 FRENCH GARDEN. EQUIPMENT. 



The Light : structural details The Frame : structural details- 

 The Cloche Cloche Carrier Cloche Peg How to Store Cloches- 

 How to Repair Cloches Mats Frame for Mat-making How to Make 

 Mats Water Plan of French Garden and Water System Equip- 

 ment of Two-acre Garden. 



EVERY intensive grower of vegetables, no matter how 

 small his garden may be, needs some means of raising, 

 growing-on, and hardening-off plants so as to have them ready 

 for setting out in their permanent quarters in the open as soon 

 as the weather conditions permit with safety. This need is 

 even more imperative when crops are intended to be ready for 

 use some time, whether it be long or short, before those which 

 are produced under normal conditions. By the use of various 

 protective appliances the gardener becomes, in a measure, 

 independent of season and climate. 



Amongst the numerous devices which are used for this 

 purpose nearly all have glass interposed between the plant and 

 the natural weather conditions. In most cases the glass is kept 

 in position by means which cause some hindrance to the full 

 and free access of daylight to the plants under protection, 

 and in every case where green vegetables are being grown all 

 such hindrances to light increase the difficulty of producing 

 a really first-class sample. 



For this reason, amongst many others, the " frame " is one 

 of the most serviceable appliances the intensive gardener can 

 use. The plants in them can be kept near the light, within a 

 few inches of the glass, where they grow practically as robust 

 and sturdy as they do later in the open-air, and their needs 

 can be easily attended to, whether it be watering, ventilating, 

 or transplanting. In frames crops can be forced, forwarded, 

 or protected to perfection ; they can be kept in use the year 

 round, they can be easily moved from place to place, and they 

 are cheap. 



