manure, independently of wet or dry seasons, he may dispense with draining; but if his crops be uncertain, or less than average, or liable to frequent disease, or blight, or failure, he may safely conclude, that however troublesome and costly it may be, he had better drain: and, as we before remarked, if he can only do one drain in a season, let him set about it cheerfully; for he will see the benefit so clearly in the very first crop, by comparison with that beyond the influence of the drain, that he will not be happy until he has drained it all. We have taken this from a new edition of "Farming for the Million;" it applies quite as much to gardens as farms. from all thoughts of their plantations, all care for appearances. All we can say in such cases is, that we are sorry such people ever possess a park or garden. The neglect which proceeds from an over-earnestness in the pursuit of other objects, is in appearance as bad as that which proceeds from idleness. The passer by such a place cannot know whether the owner be a sluggard or a miser; there are all the signs of idleness, there is all the mischief of bad example, no matter from what it proceeds. The occupier may be industrious at his back parlour in Lombard-street, assiduous in his attendance at the insurance offices where he is a director, regular in his visits to the Exchange; but he is a public example of sloth, where an example of sloth is the most pernicious-among the rural population of the village which his park and grounds disgrace. When HOW TO MAKE BOOKS ON GARDENING. If there be any merit in compilation, in other words, in The entrance to a mansion should be rich in plantation, robbing authors living and dead, and concentrating the the road should be dry, of an easy pleasant sweep, and The foliage should be diverspoils, we have an excellent example in a book just pub- give an idea of comfort. lished, and puffed in the Chronicle. There are hundreds of sified, close, no signs of trunks of trees for the wind to come seedy book-grubbers in the line, and so long as publishers whistling between, but a rich, handsome bank of evergreens, will pay for the work, nothing is more easy than to get up keeping off the blast, but not shutting out daylight. a book upon any subject that has been previously handled. you are in the park, you should find it richly wooded in the For an introduction, they ransack old books and make up distance; but here and there, at turns in the road, should be half their work from the labours of the dead; but when other clumps of evergreens, or, if the road be near the bounthey come to the practical part they are obliged to rob the dary, the plantation should be rich the whole length. The living a sentence of praise for the author of valuable man who neglects this, the very richest of all ornament, is information is the prelude to copying the cream of his tasteless; years, and a few only, will rid him of some good work. "Mr. A., an excellent authority on the subject, specimens, while the common ones will stand by him to the says " introduces a large slice from one; "Mr. B., who last. Lilacs, with a head 10 or 15 feet high, underwood, and has published a very useful volume, observes" is the pre-suckers near the ground, and all the middle part a bundle of cursor of another wholesale robbery; and "Mr. C. the author black stumps, will be found in abundance. Shrubs of of a good practical treatise tells us-" forms an excuse for various kinds grown out of form, with naked stems, and not more wholesale pillage; and so a mere bookseller's hack, a leaf near the earth, seem distinguishing features; and without knowledge, without the head to originate a thought scarcely an evergreen, perhaps, enlivens the scene, or disbearing upon the subject, makes up a book that is injurious turbs the uniformity of the black, dreary, border, through to real authors in proportion to the quantity of matter the the whole winter; or, perhaps, there may be here and there compiler pilfers from their works. This tickles the fancy a half-cankered fir, or a straggling holly, or a laurel, to form of the reviewer, and although the volume is literally made a green patch among the desolation. All this indicates that up of piratical raids on approved practical works, which a the owner has no taste, and not much prudence; and let it critic who had no turn to serve would discover at once, our not be supposed we are exaggerating in these pictures,-they friend of the Chronicle, and people who do inferior periodicals, are real ones, and we only abstain from pointing them out, in their ignorance of an author's claims, profess to admire in the hope that the owners may be induced, not "to set and vigorously puff, because it secures a certain portion of their houses in order," but their parks and gardens to rights. advertisements the modern coin for the payment of PRESS Let them recollect that it is exceedingly inconsistent to be services. We heartily wish, in the absence of honest critiseen driving a pair of horses worth two hundred guineas cism, that whoever puffed a book were compelled to give through a pair of gates rotting on their hinges, and along a extracts of the portions that were original; it would be no road that would be indicted for a nuisance in any parish in great penalty; it would rarely take much space, and would England. We do not hesitate to say that it is the first duty check the most cowardly and contemptible of all robberies. of the owners and occupiers of land to see justice done to it. The park should be creditable to the gentleman; the paddocks and meadows should be in a state worthy of a farmer; and the garden should exhibit all the appearance of plenty. Nothing gives such a notion of rank and station as well-appointed grounds; nothing is so useful as an example to the humbler classes, as order and cleanliness in the grounds of their superiors. The wealthy man whose land is neglected, proclaims to the industrious classes, that he wants their labour but is too mean to employ it. "I am," he says, by his actions, "I am rich, and my grounds tell you that I could constantly employ half-a-dozen of you who want work and cannot get it; but I do not choose to have my grounds kept up well; I can eat, drink, and sleep as well with the place as it is, as I could if it was decent; and I don't choose to throw away money on labour, merely to make my place look better to other people." This is the language which the neglected grounds of a rich man speak to every one that sees them. In our estimation, such men are self-degradedthey are not respectable-they fail in their duty to God and their neighbour-they do not do as they would wish others to do unto them, and we should rejoice if we could make them change places with those who seek in vain for employment while there is plenty of labour wanted. We should like to see them begging at their own gates of the very men whom they now neglect to employ. The pinchings of NEGLECTED ESTATES. THERE are many who, so long as they can get in at their gates, and drive up to their mansions, care no more how any thing looks than they care what the moon is made of. The very trees look dirty and neglected; ragged stumps, ugly, ill-formed branches, broken limbs, hollow trunks, and dead shoots, seem to characterize all the timber-if timber it may be called. A road full of ruts, pastures full of lumps, hedges full of briers, ditches full of thistles, disgrace the land in their own occupation; lodges and outhouses tumbling to pieces, and everything out of repair, complete the picture of the sluggard's concerns. But let us close the gates upon this detestable example, which, though not to be found everywhere, is by far too common, and advance to those who are somewhat above the worst. Of these there are some who do not care about the appearance of their grounds, but who are not idle. Many there are who pursue other objects so earnestly, as to lose sight altogether of their parks and lands except as pasture for cattle and sheep, or a turn-out for their horses; nay, there are those who, perhaps, let out the very park itself to some neighbouring cowkeeper or grazier, while some more particular object of attention weans them hunger should be great, their sense of injustice should be strong, and they should be deeply impressed with a conviction of their own previous abuse of the good things of this life, and with a certainty that they had lost them for the future. What would they give to recover their station? They would promise to plant ten times as much as would be wanted, and employ all the people in their village, to get back to the power of doing so. Let them imagine the change, and while fancying themselves shut out from their present wealth, make a vow to do their duty, and set about it forthwith.-Glenny in the year 1843. GLASS FOR HORTICULTURAL PURPOSES. Ir is no secondary part that glass performs in horticultural business. First and foremost the very houses in which we grow exotics are formed with it. Hand glasses, pits, frames, and bell glasses are indispensable; and now the ferneries, aquariums, and petit greenhouses, called warden cases, in every variety of form, for the interior of the dwellinghouse, could not be constructed without glass. We may go to the glass blowers for this, and glass cutters for that, but if we desire to see all the thousand and one contrivances for growing and keeping fish, water plants, and flowers, we must go to the Millington Depôt in Bishopsgate. In doors or out, the horticulturist is lost without glass. We say nothing about glass for hot and greenhouses, and which may be had there from the thickness of a sixpence to that of a thin board, because our readers have been long enough acquainted with all these, but it would puzzle anybody now to say what may not be had. Flower pots, propagating glasses, tiles, tubes for cucumber growers, rolling pins, milk dishes, pipes for conveying liquids, analyzing retorts, vessels of all kinds. In short, everything hitherto made in stone or metal to contain liquid, is now to be had in glass. We here give sketches of a few out of hundreds, and would call some little attention to shades. Stand a vase and fresh a bouquet in a shallow dish of water, and cover it with a glass shade, so that the edge goes into the water, and what would in the open air last but a few hours, will, under that protection, keep fresh for weeks; when you want the fragrance of the flowers take off the glass; when you leave the room, and especially at night, cover them up. Among the contrivances for plants, after the warden case fashion, we give examples of a very simple but effective plant ornament to hold soil, in which to grow ferns, or to plunge THE OLD AND NEW YEAR. WITH hope let us welcome the new-born of earth, Whose progress is only beginning; The year that is past had its follies and worth, Tho' more sinned against perhaps than sinning, We each have a mission on earth to perform, Which the sunlight of truth should nourish and warm, Opinions may differ as wide as the poles, Yet it never should friendship dissever, For the future let's prove that our bodies have souls, And the past shall be bygones for ever. PROTECTING POTTED PLANTS. THE different modes of protecting potted plants, are, first, to plunge their pots to the rim, and let them take their chances of the open weather-this will do for most things that are nearly hardy, and that would be safe, planted in the open ground. Secondly, to do this, and provide hoops and mats to cover them in hard weather, and shade them from the burning sun, which is often felt in the early spring months we this will do for plants yet more tender. Thirdly, to place them in cold pits, built up with turves, to form the walls, and glass-lights to cover them-this, with proper attention, will do for many greenhouse plants. Fourthly, to place them in regularly built brick pits, but with no provision for artificial heat in the event of hard weather, it being quite sufficient to shut out the frost, and shade them from the hot sun. These pits are of various constructions, according to the height of the plants to be protected; camellias, Azalea indica, epacris, heaths, and many other plants, are sheltered there by thousands, and except covering with mats, or cloths, have none but the natural warmth, or, rather, the warmth of the earth, which is kept in by means of proper covering, increased in thickness during the hardest weather; and no method that has been devised answers better. Fifthly, come to pits warmed by artificial means when necessary, and greenhouses, which are only on a large scale; but even these should be rarely heated for ordinary greenhouse plants, for the plants thrive much better without fire than with it. The less excitement a plant has in winter time, the better. Most exotics are used to more uniform climates than our own; they may have even a longer winter than ours to contend with, but when the fine weather comes, they have not the alternations of heat and cold peculiar to our climate, and, therefore, it is these changes that we have to guard against. But, although we have mentioned some of the most common means of protecting potted plants, we must not omit to notice a more rude way of treating them resorted to by those who have not the means to provide a better method. We have seen a hole dug in the highest part of the grouud, two feet deep, three feet wide, and as long as the plants would occupy, the plants set in the bottom of this hole, and hurdles placed over them, upon which some sort of covering was put at night, and taken off in the morning, unless it happened to be frosty, when, of course, it would be kept on; and we have known even geraniums, which we consider among the most troublesome things to manage, go through the winter well. We could not say much for the colour of the foliage after a hard winter, but they have been cut back pretty freely, and started into growth in the spring, and very soon recovered all the health and vigour of better used plants. Myrtles have hardly suffered at all; azaleas have lost the most part of their foliage, but a month in the open air and proper attention have restored them a good deal, and one would scarcely think they were the same. Plants in dwelling houses are generally kept at the windows, and, except in very hard winters, suffer but little; these will be greatly assisted by removing them to a stand in the middle of the room at night, and keeping them there, if there be much of a frost, as that would be more felt at the windows than in the middle of an apartment. One great point to be attended to in all cases, whether in the dwelling-house, in pits, covered, plunged, or exposed more, is to give no more water than is absolutely necessary to keep them alive. We do not mean that they are to have but little at a time, for that will destroy the most hardy plants in existence; but that they are not to be watered oftener than they require it: and that, when plants are at rest, is very seldom indeed when they do want it, wet all the soil in the pot, but never give it them a day before they require it. We would rather see a plant flag, as an indication of its wants, than give it a drop a day beforehand; for when a plant is at rest, it will stand a much greater degree of cold than when growing, and the tendency of watering too much is to excite growth, or failing in that, to rot the roots, therefore, in ought to be avoided; and the same applies to plants in a greenhouse. When a plant will grow, we must afford proper nourishment, but when at rest, we should encourage the rest rather than excite it to grow. The principal thing to guard against in protecting plants in winter, is damp. A dry atmosphere is not casily provided when we have so much humid weather, but a good deal may be done by covering close in damp cloudy days, and by not crowding too many plants into a small space. Where we have artificial heat, as in a greenhouse, we can occasionally make fires, and by opening the lights to let the damp exhale, keep a place tolerably dry; but when we have, as often happens, for a long time together, wet and cloudy weather, and hardly any sun, we can only shut it out; even this must be carefully done, for if plants are shut up too much, they will be forced into growth, and that will cause them to be drawn. Nothing is more conducive to health than plenty of room; half the plants that are spoiled in a greenhouse, more than half of the long-legged, ugly, uncouth specimens that we see about, are the result of over crowding. It causes the leaves to fall from the lower part of the plants, the under branches to decay, and the tops to draw up into an ungainly form; and it is not easy to recover a specimen that has once gone wrong in this direction. Avoid over-crowding them above all things; rather throw half the plants away, and take care of the rest, than, by cramming too many into a place. spoil all. When it is done, and the forms of the plants destroyed, the only way to recover them is to cut them down very close for the chance of their breaking out at the bottom, or to cut off the side branches, and see if they can be made into well-formed standards; but it is only a few kinds of plants that make good standards, and we should not be tempted to try the experiment with subjects that will not form good heads. Sometimes, in spite of all our efforts, the frost will lay hold of plants; when this is the case, syringe them well all over the foliage, and cover them up close, so that the sun shall on no account reach them. In most cases this will thaw them gently, and save them, and nothing else can. We have seen a whole pit full of heaths frozen through leaving off the covering, and hanging their young shoots down as if they wanted water. They have been syringed all over their foliage, the lights all closed and closely matted up till the next day, and have been perfectly recovered. Now, although the frost would not have killed them, every shoot would have been lost, if they had been thawed by the sun, or the warm wind. We have seen a bed of tulips that have been frosted not long before they bloomed, and every stalk was doubled over, and the buds hung down; we have seen them syringed in the same way, and matted up close, and the next day they appeared none the worse for the freezing. We might mention twenty other instances of the efficacy of syringing or watering frozen plants all over the foliage, and covering up close from wind and sun, and it is the only thing we can recommend when anything has become frosted. The best rules, then, for the preservation of plants in pots are, first, to abstain from watering as much as possible; second, to give plenty of room; third, to cover from the hot spring sun as carefully as from the winter frosts; fourth, to plunge all pots that have to be exposed to the open air, or to slight covering; fifth, to avoid opening all houses, pits, and frames, in wet and gloomy days, and generally to take pains to keep all plants as much as possible at rest. A little attention to these rules will assist greatly in the preservation of half-hardy and greenhouse plants through very formidable winters, and keep them healthy and ready for a sound spring and summer growth. PRACTICE v. SCIENCE. SOME of the shepherds and sailors, who scarcely know their right hand from the left, would tell us more about the weather that is to come, than nine-tenths of the astronomers and weather-prophets who profess to found their knowledge upon scientific principles. The shepherd founds his upon observations made personally for years, of facts to which perhaps his father and grandfather called his attention in his youth, and which are almost unerring. Science to him is a dead letter, and all the terms used in it a dead language. In his vocation he is shrewd, clever, thoughtful, and rarely mistaken in his opinion; still more seldom is he caught unprovided for the coming storm. Gardening, like tending sheep had been, and even to this day is by some, known only by the observation of facts to which men's attention has been drawn by their predecessors, who have taught them how to provide against mischief, and how to make the most of the advantages which present themselves. The examination of cause and effect, and the arrangement of these so as to form a science, has been a work of comparatively recent date; and it is an object worthy of a practical man to prevent science from running mad: in other words, to prevent theories of the wildest character from taking the place of practice. The great object of all teaching should be to give simple lessons, directing plain, practical, unerring operations, explaining as we proceed, so far as we can, the reasons why such operations are successful; to make the student understand not only that he should do this, that, or the other, but also the reason why he should do it, and what end it will answer. Most modern authors appear to us to leave out of the classes they address, all those who know nothing; and this class far exceeds in magnitude all the others combined. The great mass of learned writers seem to be writing to convince those who know a good deal that they are right, instead of teaching those who know nothing how they may know enough. When practice and science go together they do wonders, but, when distinct and separate, practice beats science hollow. It was a happy motto for the Royal Agricultural Society, when, seeing the force of our remarks, they chose "Science with Practice," but it had been still better said, "Practice with Science." END OF VOL. XVI. LONDON: PRINTED BY THOMAS PIPER, 32, PATERNOSTER ROW, The Midland Florist. think that they have paid dearly enough for their apathetic disregard of our warnings, and wonder how they could be so blind. This number will reach many hundreds who have not seen the GARDENERS' GAZETTE or the MIDLAND NEW SERIES.-VOL. XVII. No. 14.-FEB., 1863. FLORIST for years, and hardly knew they were in existence, because those who buy journals to uphold fraudulent trading by advertising freely, can afford to circulate them. "THERE'S A GOOD TIME COMING." at their own expense among their victims and intended victims; while equal pains is taken to prevent the truth We fear the time has gone by for newspapers to be from reaching the people they wish to deceive. When men valued by the mass for their independence and adhe- who are now influenced by their stewards and their rence to the truth. The oily-tongued speaker and the gardeners begin to think for themselves; when good honied writer are listened to and read by a certain class; easy employers recollect that they have neglected a the rabid politician of every party is supported by the proper audit of their accounts, and paid hundreds of faction he upholds; the sectarian counts upon the pounds for plants and seeds that are not worth services of his followers; the writer of fiction who 5 per cent" of the money; when those who have small can create a sensation is sure of readers; but alas for garden establishments contemplate the pounds they have the pen that writes truth as it is, ugly or otherwise, and expended for new flowers that are thrown away, and who braves the world by giving an honest opinion. The the little they have to show for the large amount they truth, as we have been told a hundred times, is not have sunk, then it will be our turn; they will then see acceptable to a large portion of mankind; and he who the difference between an honest and dishonest journal, will write it despite of the rank, the wealth, or the staand find their account in patronizing us. But while tion of the party it may affect, is not thanked even by those who can afford it permit plundering and allow those it serves. The dishonest pilferer of other men's themselves to be robbed of as much as would immorwritings may call them his own, and there are journal-talize them, if they gave it in charities, there will be no ists who employ him because he can sell it cheaper than searching after truth, and we must bide our time. an author can sell his original writing. No matter how contemptible the rubbish may be, there are papers in which it will be admitted, because it is cheap, and their readers are of a class that know no better. Any reasonable man who had tried the effect of home truths upon a careless and indifferent public for thirty or forty years, without an adequate reward, might be expected to change his plan and try to swim with the stream, but those who expect this know little of human nature. all detestable characters, the "turncoat" is nearly the worst. Let any man of common sense think for a moment, and he will conclude, that he who changes from truth and independence to meanness and servility must lose all who valued his honest career; and those who hated him for his opinions will despise his attempt to seek their favours by prostituting his pen; he must lose all he values and all who value him; and what number of the spiritless creatures could compensate for the loss of caste and character as a public writer? We have heard it said, and have written it in our copybooks, even in the last century, "Truth will prevail;" and notwithstanding it has failed hitherto to save us in a wordly sense, we have great faith in it bringing its reward some day when we least expect it, perhaps in the midst of trouble, for, as Robert Burns says,— "And come it will for a' that." Of We have great faith in the ultimate success of plain, consistent, and truthful writing; but it must be unprofitable for a time, when it exposes the fraudulent trader and the empyric, for they form a very powerful body, and their enormous profits enable them to bribe a vast majority of the journalists who consider their present interests, as if there were to be no future day of reckoning. But they calculate "without their host." The people they have successfully "bested," as the Yankees call it, will in time open their eyes and see how they have been plundered. They will look to their garden bills for years past, and see the little they have to show for the enormous sums they have expended; they will then begin to THE CALCEOLARIA. WE have frequently given general directions for the culture of this favourite plant, and it would be difficult for us to add anything to treatises which contain all that is necessary for the guidance of the amateur; and, indeed professional gardeners would be somewhat puzzled to strike out anything new. In the year 1847, our treatise was published at some length in the Annals of Horticulture, and in 1858 we republished part of it in the GARDENERS' GAZETTE; we are now pressed, probably by those of a new generation, to " say a few words," give a few practical hints," and "let inexperienced amateurs know something about the Calceolaria.' We have put the hints in the form of a calendar for the whole year: 2 JANUARY. The plants should now be in pits, which can be well protected against frost, but not heated. artificially. They should have little or no water, nor should they be uncovered during a frost. If the weather be mild and damp, let them have all the air they can get, by uncovering them altogether; if, on the contrary, there be wind, they must only have air given by propping the lights on the side or end, on the fair weather side. Generally speaking, the plants should have as little water during the winter months as can be given to keep them from quite flagging. Towards the end of the month the plants will begin to grow. Watch closely for green fly, and, upon the slightest indication of its presence, fumigate with tobacco or tobacco paper. FEBRUARY.-This month the surface of all the soil, in the pots that are large enough, may be stirred as low as it can be done without disturbing the fibres, and thrown out to make room for a top-dressing of leaf-mould and cow-dung perfectly decomposed; with this top-dressing, towards the end of the month, and a gentle watering, if well covered up for a day, the plants will set off growing; and when there is no frost or cold winds, let the glasses be quite off. Cover up carefully at night, and also in cold weather. Seeds may be sown. MARCH. Continue the treatment of last month. Propagate by cuttings when they can be taken; they ought to consist of the young shoots when two inches long. All the plants which are in pots that are filled with roots, and require shifting, should be carefully turned out and put from sixty's to forty-eight's, from forty-eight's to thirty-two's or twenty-four's, and from this to sixteen's, carefully keeping the surface of the soil close, but not above the collar of the plant; after shifting, they must be watered and shut up one day. Look out still for green fly, and destroy them before they can get ahead. Sow seed in wide-mouthed pots; scatter it very thinly. Pot off the seedling plants. APRIL-Give plenty of air and pay great attention to watering. Propagate by cuttings. As we do not encourage herbaceous varieties, we are almost unwilling to give a hint about them; but as they soon throw up thin, long, awkward flower stems, they must be supported in time by sticks, which should be small, and the ties should be rather loose, to allow the growing stem to push the tie up with it. The plants now require a good deal of water, as the weather becomes warm; gentle showers are good for them. MAY.-Propagate by cuttings still, when any nice young shoots can be taken off without spoiling the plants; as they continue growing and advancing for bloom, they are more in want of moisture, and should never be allowed to get dry; they also require all the air that can be given; they may be removed to the greenhouse, either for ornament or convenience, but, until they become large, the pits are more handy. Supporting the stems will be found necessary with some varieties, but the good shrubby kinds will not require it except for travelling. Encourage seedling plants. Look closely after the green fly. Bed out, at the end of the month, small plants for the open air. JUNE.-Most of the well-grown plants will now be flowering; they will still require plenty of moisture, and the sun must be kept off with thin canvas shading. In pits the lights should be tilted on all four corners, and the canvas thrown over them in the heat of the day; and if they are in the greenhouse, there must be some kind of shade, or the blooms will soon fall or fade. Cuttings that are struck may be potted off, and the sooner the better. Prick out seedlings an inch apart in pots, beginning round the edge. Watch the green fly, for if left undisturbed for a few days they would destroy the beauty of a plant. JULY.-Cuttings may be still potted off, and any that have filled their small pots with roots may be shifted to others a size larger. The principal business now is to shade the blooming plants, keep them well watered and drained, and supported where it is necessary. Seedlings that are up and growing in their seed-pots may be pricked | out, an inch apart, as soon as they are large enough, in wide-mouthed pots; or, if in small pots, put round the edge only. Shift any that are in pots too small. Put together, in an isolated place, for seeding, such distinct varieties as you wish to amalgamate. AUGUST.-Propagate, by cuttings, all this month. Water freely. Remove such as are past their prime into the open air, to encourage the seeds, and be careful that they do not suffer for want of water. Seed, also, must be examined as it approaches ripeness, and be gathered before it is scattered. Shift seedlings that are large enough into small pots, one in a pot, and after watering them in, to close the earth about their roots, shut them up a day in a pit well shaded. Continue to watch for the green fly, and exterminate it with fumigation. SEPTEMBER.-Propagate by cuttings all this month, attending to their different stages, as before. Continue to gather seed. Pot off seedlings and cuttings that are ready, and shift those that are pot-bound. Cut down the bloom stems; stir the surface of the mould in the pots; top-dress a little, and set them in their frames for the winter. See that the bottom of the frame is hard and sound, and rather sloping, so as not to let water lay on it, nor soak into it. Lessen the quantity of moisture given to the plants, as they will not be growing much, and there is, after the middle of the month, danger of frost. OCTOBER.-Continue the treatment of the past month, but be more careful, and provide against frost, by covering at night. Pot off any of the best or previous month's cuttings that have struck, and shut them down close for a day or two after moving. Also, pot off seedlings, or prick out the small ones, and place them in the greenhouse until they are large enough to put in separate pots. Give no water now, while the plants keep fresh, for there is very little moisture wanted. NOVEMBER. The treatment throughout the autumn and winter months is not materially changed :—all the air that can be given in mild weather, very little moisture, and secure covering from frost; and whether they are in regular pits or frames, or in a greenhouse, the same treatment must be observed as nearly as possible; nor must it be forgotten that frost does not prevent the green fly from attacking these plants, although there is less danger of them in winter time than in spring and summer. DECEMBER. A continuation of more watchfulness, to carry out the general principles already laid down. The inside of the pits should be kept dry and clean; all dead leaves should be constantly picked off and thrown away, and by no means be left in the pit. Water should be seldom given, and never until the soil is nearly dry. FORCING FLOWERS AND PLANTS. ALL plants intended to be forced must be first well established in pots. Whether it be a shrub or a Pink, the principle is the same; unless the roots feel at home, and are, in fact, used to the soil they are in before they develop their bloom stems, weakness, if not blindness, must follow. The first thing, therefore, to look after and secure is, to pot whatever is intended for forcing, at the earliest possible period that it is practicable. Pinks, for instance, as soon as they are rooted in the piping-bed; all other flowers produced annually from cuttings, as soon as such cuttings are rooted. Pansies are like Pinks in respect to wanting annual renewing by cuttings, for the old plants degenerate; so would Carnations and Picotees. Flowers that are produced annually from seed should be sown at such time as will produce the plant at maturity about the time that the flowers are wanted. Most annuals should be sown about |