347 

 PEEPAEING FOR WINTER. 



A WOED TO AMATETTES. 



TIE extraordinary character of the present season will tempt many culti- 

 vators to do unwise thinc^s, and probably some of our friends may suffer 

 hereafter through not exercising caution and vigilance now. It is quite 

 time that the garden work was arranged and disposed with an immediata 

 view to the possibility and probability of an arctic winter following upon 

 the tropical summer which appears to be scarcely yet at an end. Of course we know 

 not what sort of a winter we shall have ; we only know this, that prudent men will, 

 as far as they can, prepare against the worst: they always do so, and they will make 

 no exception in this curious season of 1868. Many of our best practicals keep vast 

 quantity of plants with scarcely any trouble, and almost no suitable appliances. Of 

 course there are many places where the plants are as well provided for as racehorses, 

 and almost every specimen can have, if it needs it, a man to sit up with it every 

 night. But such places are few in number compared with those where every square 

 of glass has to do about three times as much work as, on a fair consideration of the 

 case, appears to be possible. To attempt to teach gardeners anything under this 

 head would be as foolish as to attempt to teach a duck how to swim ; but there may 

 be no harm in offering a few words of advice to amateur readers on the matters that 

 need attention now with reference to the winter that is near at hand, for it is the 

 winter work that mars many an amateur's peace, and the losses occasioned by frost 

 and damp sometimes tempt them to say they will give up gardening. Not that it 

 matters much if they do say so ; they are sure to repent when spring comes; the 

 first bunch of spring flowers that meets the eye changes the mind, and away they go 

 again into the thick of the horticultural frenzy, conscious of certain misery if they 

 adhere to the unwise resolve they made in such haste when the gloom of winter filled 

 them with sadness. 



There ought to be no need to advise all who have glass of any kind to see that 

 it is at once put into proper repair, and made ready for use. Broken squares, de- 

 fective flues, insufficient boilers, leaky pipes, and dirty stages have, of course, long 

 ago called loudly on their possessor to be set to rights ; and he, knowing that the first 

 frost usually occurs in the third week in October, and is then sometimes severe 

 enough to spoil the chrysanthemums, has of course attended to every detail of that 

 sort, so as to be ready for winter whenever it may begin. Well, if these things are 

 still unattended to, there is time to make all right, hut there is not an hour to spare. 

 Not that we expect an early Avinter; in plain truth, we expect a late one and a mild 

 one, but our expectations may be like those of Birdofreedom Sawin when he enlisted 

 for the Mexican war — doomed to be inversely realized. Still the probabilities are 

 all in favour of a Lite winter and a mild one, for a comparison of the records of past 

 years will show that wet summers are usually followed by early and severe winters, 

 and dry summers by late and mild ones. But some sort of winter will come, and 

 growers of plants must in some way be ready for it. The first thing is to have all 

 broken glass repaired, all flues cleaned, all fire-bars and dampers and other parts of 

 heating apparatus in perfect repair. When all repairs are done, have all the glass 

 cleaned inside. The importance of clean glass is not half appreciated, yet it is of very 

 great importance during the dark December days to have as much light as possible, 

 besides the fact that clean glass dries quicker than that which is dirty; and when 

 very dirty, the remains of spiders' webs, bits of dead leaf, etc., etc., adhering to the 

 glass, increase the amount of drip, and so add to the difficulties of keeping the 

 plants in health. 



Pits and frames need similar attentions, and it is a matter of no small importance 

 to see that there is ready escape for water from all these secured, for if pits are not 

 dry they cannot be good keeping-places ; all will go Avell, perhaps, till the beginning of 

 February, and then damp will triumph, and the inmates will perish wholesale. Those 

 who have a lot of spare lights may extemporize pits now with very little trouble. Select 

 a dry spot, measure oft' the ground to suit the lights, build walls of turf, peat, or 

 even clay two feet or more thick and two feet high ; smooth ofi" the upper surfaces, 

 and on those lay .some half-inch planking cut to suitable lengths; insert a few pegs 

 to guide the lights, and your pits are ready. In my travels about 1 often see col- 



