THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



flower garden, where beds of roses, azaleas, rho- 

 dodendrons, and the like are to be protected, the 

 span-roofed frame is preferable. This, as its name 

 indicates, has a double sash or roof of glass and 

 glass ends, being built with a wooden base a foot 

 high all around and a frame about two feet high 

 in the centre on which the sash rests, the gable ends 

 being filled with glass. This is much more preten- 

 tious than the common coldframe or hotbed and 

 much more commodious. It is not necessarily pro- 

 hibitively expensive, and will more than pay for 

 itself in the protection it affords. 



The permanent hotbeds may be made useful and 

 attractive during the summer by using them for 

 planting out tropical plants or those requiring an 

 unusual amount of heat and nourishment, as their 

 location in the sunniest position furnishes the one 

 and the great amount of manure they contain the 

 other. No better place could be found for growing 

 banana plants, whose luxuriant growth requires 

 just these conditions. It will also be found a con- 

 venience in applying water, as the frame and the 

 lowness of the soil inside prevent all waste, and 

 the soil can be kept wet under conditions that 

 would be impossible in the open ground. 



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