FRAMES. 



110 



FRAMES. 



basket, a wheatsheaf, and a variety of 

 other devices. The water from these 

 fountains is generally received into a 

 shell, whence it forms a sort of mi- 

 niature cascade to the basin below. 



Four-o'clock -flower. — A kind 

 of Marvel of Peru. See Mira'bilis. 



Foxglove. — See Digitalis. 



Frames. — A frame in gardening 

 may be described as a bottomless box 

 with a cover of glass. The glass is 

 fixed in a sash of convenient dimen- 

 sions for being taken off, and put on 

 again at pleasure, and the sides of the 

 box are of such a height as to admit 

 of the growth of plants of a foot or 

 more high. The back of the frame 

 or box is placed towards the north, 

 and is generally about the height of 

 two feet, and the frame being right- 

 angled, the side towards the south is 

 usually about one foot or fourteen 

 inches in height. The ordinary width 

 is from five feet to seven feet, and the 

 length may be three or more times 

 the width, divided into sashes of two 

 and a half feet or three feet broad. 

 The frame may be either set on a bed 

 of the common soil of the garden, in 

 which case, it is merely used for the 

 protection of plants from the weather, 

 or it may be placed on a bed of fer- 

 menting manure, or other materials 

 that generate heat, for bringing for- 

 ward seeds or tender plants. Some- 

 times frames are placed against steeply 

 sloping surfaces, or against walls ; in 

 which cases the object is to bring for- 

 ward plants trained on the wall or 

 sloping surface. Frames are of the 

 greatest use in gardening ; not only 

 for protecting plants that are not 

 quite so hardy as those usually 

 planted in the open air, especially in 

 the winter season, such as Alpines, 

 and seedlings of hardy plants which 

 are somewhat tender when young, 

 but for germinating seeds. Frames 

 on beds of dung are commonly called 

 Jiot-beds, and are particularly useful 



for raising young plants from seeds, 

 striking cuttings, and, in culinary gar- 

 dening, for growing crops of such 

 plants as Cucumbers, Melons, &c. 

 As the air confined within the frame 

 is apt to become suddenly heated by 

 bright sunshine, or by the fermenting 

 material when the open air is tem- 

 perate, care must be taken to prevent 

 the heat from being at any time 

 greater than the plants will bear; and 

 this is effected by raising the sashes, 

 or lights as they are technically called, 

 by wooden wedges placed between 

 them and the frame, in the hinder or 

 higher part of the frame, so as to 

 admit of the escape of the excessively 

 heated air. Hence it is desirable 

 in all frames, where much delicacy of 

 temperature requires to be attended 

 to, to keep a thermometer within 

 them; and in general, when the tem- 

 perature within rises to 60°, to lift up 

 the sash and to introduce the wedge 

 between it and the back of the frame, 

 so as to permit the heated air to 

 escape. Frames are sometimes also 

 set upon low brick walls, which may 

 either be raised above the soil, if it 

 should be naturally moist, or sunk 

 into it, if it should be naturally dry. 

 In such cases, instead of a box of 

 boards, the box may be said to be 

 formed of brick or stone, on the top 

 of which is placed a framing of wood 

 to receive the sashes. Such frames, 

 or brick-pits, as they are called, are 

 used to preserve half-hardy and green- 

 house plants during the winter. All 

 frames that are used in winter or 

 spring should be covered during the 

 night, especially when the weather is 

 cold, to retain the heat generated by 

 the sun, or the fermenting material, 

 during the day. This covering is 

 generally of bast mats laid on the 

 glass sashes ; but it is rendered much 

 more effective when the mats are 

 kept an inch or two apart from the 

 sashes, so as to retain between them 



