THE FLORIST. 317 



THE LADIES' PAGE. 



u When dark December glooms the day, 

 And takes our Autumn joys away ; 

 When short and scant the sunbeam throws 

 Upon the weary waste of snows 

 A cold and profitless regard." Scott. 



In the midst of winter, when work out of doors must be left to the 

 garden labourer, the more delicate patroness of flowers need not be 

 idle in the parlour and drawing-room. Those beautiful beguilers of 

 short and cold and gloomy days, the Hyacinths and early Tulips, 

 will now need constant care, and will fully reward their possessor 

 for the attention given. If the Hyacinths are in glasses, the water 

 should be changed more frequently as the growth becomes more 

 rapid, and all the light consistent with a due degree of heat should 

 be given them. Tulips and Hyacinths in pots will require more 

 water as the foliage is more fully developed ; it should not, however, 

 stand in the saucers, but be applied in such portions as the soil will 

 retain. Warm rains should be taken advantage of when they occur ; 

 for the dust inseparable from a sitting-room stops up the pores of 

 the leaves, and is unfavourable to a healthy growth. When the pots 

 are brought in after being exposed to a genial shower, the improve- 

 ment of the plants will be immediately manifest. The superintend- 

 ence of these in-door favourites will be productive of a high degree 

 of pleasure ; and as the flowers expand, and emit their fragrance and 

 display their colours, it will be confessed that gardening in winter 

 has a charm, enhanced by the contrast of blooming flowers with the 

 sterility and gloom which reign all around. 



In closing these brief instructions for the year 1849, I shall only 

 be forwarding the laudable designs of the conductors of The Florist, 

 if I indulge in an observation of a moral kind, suggested by the ap- 

 proaching departure of another year. Since the " Ladies' Page" was 

 commenced in January, what a variety of operations have been begun, 

 carried on, and completed by the wise and all-powerful hand of the 

 great Author of Nature in the department of vegetable life alone ! 

 The innumerable acres of our country have been sown, have dis- 

 played their daily increasing crops, and been reaped. Tens of thou- 

 sands of gardens, from the cottage plot to the domains of wealth 

 and rank, have recovered from the waste of winter, presented their 

 array of fruits, vegetables, and flowers, and faded before the iron rule 

 of winter again. The Florist has sown his choice seed, or repotted 

 his cuttings ; they have prospered under his hands, have died away ; 

 and he is invited to pursue the same course again. How short is 

 a year ; yet how much is done within its little span ! How obvious 

 is the reflection, that if we imitate the economy of time and means 

 practised by our Creator, a year will find us more advanced intellec- 

 tually, and better stored with those invaluable graces and affections 

 of the heart which no winter can wither, and which are destined to 

 bloom fully under a holier and a purer sky ! 



The Bury, Luton. IIknuy Burgkss. 



