7 FEBRUARY 1947, Page 18

In My Garden On the subject of cloches, which in

Britain have quite ousted the bell- jar, but not the Dutch frame, they are perhaps most useful in this month of February (if it should improve at all on the last week of January) and in. March. They enable us to sow seeds a good deal earlier and are especially recommended to those who like to sow patches of hardy annuals among their herbaceous plants, and few devices pay better dividends of brightness late in the year. But there is one warning. The cloches may do more harm than good if watering is forgotten. I have sometimes wondered whether for certain purposes the more solid bell-jar had not cer- tain superior advantages, but the newer "lantern cloches!' have quite stolen their thunder, especiaIt in regard to such' plants as Marrows and