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THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



very near tlie course of the clvain-pipes, 

 80 that it is dry and warm. There is a 

 foot depth of coal-ashes for a bottom to 

 plunge the pots iu, and at the four corners, 

 and intermediate between them at the 

 sides, are stout posts, onwhich three rails 



severely, under the net they would be 

 quite safe and untouched by frost. 



On this simple plan are kept the whole 

 of our chrysanthemums, pansies, hy- 

 drangeas, pot-roses, potted bulbs, fuchsias, 

 calceolarias, and a few verbenas, and so 





are fixed. The middle rail is six inches 

 higher than the other two, so as to make 

 a ridge. Potted plants in such a bed 

 have all the benefit of open weather, and 

 for many things such a bed is better than 

 a frame till the turn of the new year, be- 

 cause, being fully exposed, the plants are 

 kept hard, and in very slow growth ; 

 whereas in pits and frames some things 

 grow too fast up to Christmas, and then 

 suffer all the more in severe weather. I 

 purchased last spring a good supply of 

 Haythorn's hexagon netting for protecting 

 and shading, and this has proved the best 

 of all materials to keep off a moderate 

 amount of frost. In mild weather, the 

 nets hang in the potting-shed ready for 

 use ; and if the wind veers round to the 

 north, it is but five minutes' work to 

 throw a net over, and the stock is safe 

 from a frost of at least four degrees. If 

 the frost continues, another net may go 

 over the first, and a few mats over that 

 to hang down to the ground, and an extra 

 one at the north end to keep out tlie 

 draught. I did intend, by the help of a 

 pair of Cox's minimum thermometers, to 

 test the actual value of the nets of dif- 

 ferent-sized meshes, by noting every morn- 

 ing the lowest temperature of the bed 

 under the netting and the air outside, as 

 registered on the thermometer during the 

 night. But we have had no frost of suffi- 

 cient intensity for such observations, and 

 I can only hazard a guess that any of the 

 large mesh nets — say No. 20, for instance — 

 will make a difference of six degrees 

 during a night frost ; and the finer ones, 

 such as No. 5, will make a difference of 

 four degrees ; so that, if the thermometer 

 sinks to 28"', which would try many things 



we get more I'oom [in the greenhouse for 

 camellias, Andromedas, Deutzias, gera- 

 niums, etc., and for a " bit of everything" 

 in the way of rliubarb, early potatoes, 

 bedders and seedling Americans in 

 frames. Of course the bed has undergone 

 a change since this month came in. The 

 fuchsias have had a start in heat, and are 

 now growing nicely in a temperature of 

 50°; hollyliocks and pansies are now 

 being planted out, and before this Niimber 

 is pi'inted, the whole of the chrysanthe- 

 mums will be parted and planted out, and 

 cuttings put in heat of all the sorts which 

 we shall want in quantity. 



Let me here note, for the good of those 

 amateurs who do not exhibit, but want a 

 respectable chrysanthemum showat home, 

 that there is not the least necessity for 

 making cuttings in November. The old 

 stools taken up from the borders and 

 paciked together with tallies attached, in 

 preservative beds, will part into a dozen 

 or twenty pieces each during March, and 

 make as good plants for the natural style 

 of treatment as those from November cut- 

 tings. Mr. Broome, who is a master of 

 this subject in all its details, is neverthe- 

 less so taken up with the results to be 

 aimed at by those who compete for silver 

 cups, that he is apt to involve iu a great 

 deal of unnecessary labour the thousands 

 of good folks who care nothing about such 

 things. He insists upon cuttings, and 

 will have them made the moment the 

 bloom is over. Now, don't bother your- 

 self to do any such thing; the rooted 

 suckers that come in plenty, make first- 

 rate plants with good summer culture, 

 and you may have them, three or four feet 

 over, iu the form of handsome bushes, and 



