238 Salad Culture. 



season, when little or nothing can be done with them out of doors, 

 that demands most attention from us. As very ordinary cultivation 

 suffices to grow them with us in the favourable parts of the year, 

 and in the other our markets are supplied from France, it is obvious 

 that it is as regards the winter and early spring supplies that we 

 want improvement. That improvement is easily secured. 



The first and the chief thing to do towards it is to procure some 

 of the large bell glasses (cloches) which the French use for this 

 purpose. They are simply huge bell glasses made of cheap glass, 

 with a round knob at the top to permit of their being handled with 

 facility. Not only for salad growing, but for many other purposes, 

 these are among the most useful things that can be employed in the 

 garden. The French shift them from one salad to another, raise 

 seedlings under them, strike cuttings under them, forward asparagus 

 and many other things with them, and, in a word, make more use 

 of them than any other article they use in their gardens. They are 

 cheap costing about eightpence each if bought in large quanti- 

 ties, and ninepence or tenpence if bought in small numbers, or 

 singly require no repairs, are easily cleaned and stored when not 

 required. The nice task of giving air is done away with in their 

 case. Without air on " every possible occasion" the British gar- 

 dener attempts nothing under glass. By adopting this simple 

 article, he may forego that ceaseless trouble throughout the winter 

 and early spring. In the hotter weeks of autumn, these glasses are 

 tilted up on one side for an inch or so, with a bit of stone placed 

 underneath 5 but when once winter comes in earnest, then down 

 they go quite close, and are all through the winter in the same con- 

 dition as what we call Wardian cases. By the way, the French re- 

 cognised this principle long before we did, and what is more, have 

 made a far more practical use of it. For all sorts of winter salad- 

 growing this huge bell glass of theirs is infinitely superior to any- 

 thing that we use for like purposes. The plants get full light at all 

 times, and, while perfectly preserved from the filth and splashing of 

 the rains in winter, are not in the least "drawn" or injured by the 

 confinement, the light coming in so freely at all points. 



