THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



271 



it auy saving in the long run to use boards, j 

 for though the walls may be made of any i 

 thickness afterwards by banking earth round ! 

 the pit, such walls are anything but durable, j 

 although in other respects they are effectual. 

 But a pit, as above described, if the wood- 

 work is kept in repair and well painted, may : 

 last time out of mind in continued use, and 

 year after year produce salads, fruit, and 

 vegetables for the table, or plants and flowers j 

 for the garden, the conservatory, or the 

 drawing-room. 



The mode of producing early salads and 

 vegetables has been so often described, as to 

 render a repetition almost worthless among 

 the readers of garden literature ; but it will 

 BCarce admit of a doubt that, however stale 

 the description may become, the real fact of 

 having them will always be a fresh and 

 agreeable affair. In this, as in all else con- 

 nected with gardening, new ideas are always 

 acceptable, and great improvements are ob- 

 tained by careful attention to causes and 

 their results. 



It is a common fault with beginners to 

 exhibit a want of patience, and many a batch 

 of roots have been destroyed through placing 

 them on the fermenting material before the 

 rank heat has subsided ; and even if it is 

 allowed to do so, the additional weight of 

 nine inches or a foot of earth, as in planting 

 asparagus or seakale, will often cause the 

 heat to rise stronger than ever. This should 

 always be provided against, or the destruc- 

 tion of the roots will cause both a loss and 

 disappointment. For wintering cauliflowers 

 and lettuce-plants, or for carrying dwarf 



crops, as spinach, endive, etc., through frosty 

 weather, or sowing radishes or what not, it 

 is merely necessary to fork up the surface 

 soil after cucumbers or melons come off. 

 Strawberry plants, too, may be planted into 

 the same ; they will bear as well, if not 

 better, than in the open ground, and a month 

 earlier. Violets treated in the same way will 

 yield a profusion of blossom in March and 

 April. Buibs and many herbaceous plants 

 that are the better, or come into bloom 

 earlier, for a little protection, do well in the 

 cold pit. 



In the case of more tender plants, such as 

 bedding stuffs, cinerarias, etc., which require 

 protection from frost, they may be and Lave 

 been kept in abundance in a cold pit, and 

 come out in the spring as strong and healthy 

 as those wintered in a greenhouse ; and this 

 in spite of many gardeners, who ought to 

 know better, speaking of it as an impossi- 

 bility. The fact is, those who regard it as 

 such do not guard sufficiently against clamp, 

 keep the pit shut up when it should be open, 

 and, above all, if frost continues for a week 

 or a month, they keep the covering on the 

 whole time. Now, if the litter or mats are 

 left on the glass, and frost continues for a 

 week, it penetrates deeper and deeper every 

 night till the plants become frozen ; whereas, 

 had the covering been removed every day aud 

 thrown ou afresh, the frost would have the 

 same depth to go through every time, and 

 would never reach the plants, providing the 

 litter or mats on the walls be thick enough ; 

 and it must be a very sharp frost to go 

 through a foot of either. F. Chitty. 



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SPEKGrULA SAGINOIDES. 



In the correspondence which has taken 

 place in regard to Spergula pilifera, all 

 that has been said against it as a lawn or 

 carpet plant comes to this — that, like all 

 other plants, you can kill it if you are 

 bent on doing so, but. even then it is not 

 an easy matter. Planted in a wet hollow, 

 and covered with water for weeks together, 

 it survived and grew, and proved its merit 

 by its beauty. On trashy London mould 

 it has made charming verge lines in one 

 season. Three times transplanted ; first, 

 because it looked yellow when the frost 

 caught it before it was established ; next, 

 because it made the adjoining grays look 

 poor by comparison ; and next, for mere 

 whim, it started away at last and did what 

 was wanted of it most obediently. Some 

 who pronounced against it confess to 



having got it up in heat, and then coddled 

 it under glass, till its hardy, fresh air- 

 loving constitution was broken ; and others 

 wanted it to make a turf instanter, on 

 worn-out, hot, sandy, or chalky soil, and 

 it failed through lack of skill and lack of 

 patience. After all, patience is the chief 

 virtue for those who plant Spergula pil- 

 fera. It must have time ; it will not 

 come so quick as grass, that is, to make 

 so close a turf, simply because wc cannot 

 sow it broadcast by the bushel. Some 

 day, when the seed is dirt cheap, we may 

 be able to do that, and then Spergula 

 turf will be possible with less patience than 

 at present. But one grave objection, and 

 only one, has been urged against it, and 

 that ^is, that when in bloom it has the 

 appearance of a lawn awfully foul with 



