138 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



practice from the disparity of depth in garden 

 frames. The plants in front have barely time to 

 start till they crush their heads against the glass, 

 while those at the back not seldom become drawn 

 because of their distance from the same. To 

 remedy such evils and provide a uniform height over 

 the entire area of the frames, the latter may be made 

 of the same height at front and back, and the slope 

 or pitch secured by placing on a bed or base with 

 the desired fall. 



Each sash is furnished with a strong iron handle, 

 firmly bolted Or secured on to the centre of the top 

 rail, as in Fig. 11. This is a most important adjunct 

 to a garden sash-frame, which is almost in perpetual 

 motion in most gardens throughout the growing 

 season. 



Other forms of garden frames, such as hip and 

 span-roofed ones (Figs. 12 and 13), have recently 

 been introduced and strongly recommended at dif- 

 ferent ■ times, and many years ago a dome-shaped 

 garden frame was invented and used in France ; 

 but none of these have proved formidable rivals 

 to the old-fashioned lean-to-roofed garden frame, 

 which still holds its ground as the most efficient 

 portable glass contrivance for the protection and cul- 

 tivation of many garden plants. Not a few, how- 

 ever, of the modern hip and span-roofed frames are 

 most convenient and useful. The lights are hung 

 on a central rod passed through the apex, or on 

 hooks fastened there, and the front lights can thus be 

 thrown readily over on to the back ones in the case 

 of span-roofed frames ; or the back ones raised for 

 ventilation in the case of those of hip-span form 

 (Pig. 13). Gaiden frames of those forms also afford 

 more room for the storage of taUer plants than those 

 of the ordinary form'; but such advantages hardly 

 compensate for the additional cost of production and 

 the greater difficulties of working and covering the 

 frames in cold weather. 



Different Sorts of G-arden Trames. — These 

 have generally been divided into three classes — those 

 of cold, temperate, and hot-bed or tropical frames ; 

 but the distinctions are neither of structure nor of 

 size, but simply of temperature and uses. Cold 

 frames are those from which the fi'ost is only ex- 

 cluded. They are largely occupied with such 

 florists' ilowers as Picotees, Auriculas, &c. Tem- 

 perate frames are largely furnished with bed- 

 ding and the hardier green-house plants, and should 

 be provided with a temperature of from 40° to 45° 

 in aU weathers. Tropical or hot-bed frames com- 

 mand a tropical temperature, and are largely used 

 for the culture of Cucumbers and Melons, and the 

 growth of stove and other tender plants in a young 

 state. 



The Frame or Melon Ground. —As this is 

 daily losing much of its old significance, a few sen- 

 tences may prove useful to describe its character and 

 usefulness. This was mostly a warm sheltered spot, 

 surrounded by high walls or hedges, with a warm 

 outlook to the south, south-east, south-west, or west ; 

 and a good cart-road for ready access and egress of 

 manures and soils. With a plentiful supply of these, 

 and frames or pits in serried ranks or regular rows, 

 the Melon-ground became and continued a veritable 

 hot-bed of rapid production. It was at once the most 

 interesting, profitable, and productive spot in the 

 whole garden. Sheltered from all the coldest and 

 most generally prevailing winds, its normal tempe- 

 rature was mostly from 5° to 10° above the average, 

 while the heat, husbanded by glass and augmented 

 at win by layers of manure, leaves, and other fer- 

 menting materials, furnished fostering and stimula- 

 ting forces of the highest value, and sufficiently 

 potent to meet the wants of cultivators. 



Though modem improvements in the construction 

 and warming of glass structures have relegated the 

 Melon and frame ground to a place of secondary 

 importance, yet no garden, large or small, is fuUy 

 furnished with the most useful horticultural ap- 

 pliances that has not a frame-ground. By placing 

 frames tolerably close together, space, as well as 

 warmth, is husbanded and economised, though no 

 two frames must be placed so closely as for the one 

 in front to overshadow the one behind. To prevent 

 this a distance of the width of the frame, with a 

 few feet to spare, will usually suffice. For exam- 

 ple, between frames six feet wide, spaces from six to 

 ten feet should intervene. 



Other Uses for Garden Frames. — Among 

 these the protection of fruit-trees or tender shrubs on 

 walls. Tea Roses, or other flowers or plants in the 

 open, are the most obvious and useful. Our first 

 experience of the extreme usefulness of the acci- 

 dental application of portable lights was in this 

 wise : — A narrow lean-to Peach-house was formed of 

 old frame-lights. These were so nicely fitted together 

 against a wall and narrow trellis, and the enclosed 

 area so well heated, that the Peaches were ripened 

 and all gathered early in June. The lights were 

 immediately removed and fitted up in a rough way 

 against Peach-trees in the open. These were ripened 

 in splendid condition in a cold summer and dis-. 

 trict at the latter end of September and early in 

 October. 



Since then every possible spare frame or other 

 lights have been utilised in the spring and in 

 autumn. They are just as useful at the latter 

 season as at the former, in imparting the highest 

 flavour to stone-fruits and choice Pears in the open 



