THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



21 



water and roll well again ; add one 

 eighth of an inch of the best coloured 

 gravel, and again roll until quite solid. 

 Have the walk two inches wider on 



each side than you desire — this checks 

 grass and weeds from encroaching, and 

 prevents the rain-water getting to the 

 foundation of the walk. 



(To be continued) 



JANUARY WORK FOR GARDEN AND GREENHOUSE. 



As this is the time when all the world 

 " turns over a new leaf," the gardener 

 must not be behind-hand in effecting 

 such reforms as the experience of the 

 past may have suggested. It must 

 be " now or never " with those who 

 are making new plantations, or alter- 

 ing or improving old ones. Spring 

 is not far off, and the first stir of the 

 sap in the leafless branches, will be the 

 signal to leave off planting, and all 

 such work should be hurried on 

 whenever the weather gives an oppor- 

 tunity. Roses ought to have been 

 planted long ago, but there is still 

 time to get in briars, and to move 

 worked plants from the nursery-beds 

 to the places they are to permanently 

 occupy. If work presses hard, leave 

 all minor jobs, and get the planting 

 finished, and especially of all deciduous 

 trees and shrubs, for there is no more 

 active cause of ruin to trees and shrubs 

 than moving them after the sap has 

 begun to flow, the result in most cases 

 of needless procrastination. Composts 

 should now be turned over to let the 

 February frosts into them; stacked 

 turf should for the same reason be 

 stirred over, and as fast as one surface 

 of exposed manures is frozen hard, 

 turn it over and expose another — in 

 fact, let the frosts operate freely on all 

 composts and soils as much as possible, 

 and to increase the amount of surface 

 exposed to it, ridge up any vacant 

 patches in the kitchen garden that 

 have not been already so treated. 



Kitchen Garden. — Sow small 

 breadths of early peas and beans in 

 sheltered spots, or in frames for trans- 

 planting. At a meeting of the Horti- 

 cultural Society, on the 7th of July 

 last, Mr. McEwen sent three dozen 

 kinds of peas, stating the order of 

 their ripening. The seven earliest 

 were the following : — 1, Sebastopol, 



two feet; 2, Eastling's Early Dwarf, 

 eighteen inches ; o, Carter's Earliest, 

 two feet; 4, Sangster's No. 1, three 

 feet ; 5, Emperor, three feet ; 6, Early 

 Nimble, eighteen inches; 7, Harri- 

 son's Glory, three feet. Small sow- 

 ings may be made of lettuces, cauli- 

 flowers, and cabbages in boxes to be 

 forwarded in gentle heat; and plan- 

 tations of horseradish may be made. 

 The ground should be trenched two 

 feet, and fresh manure laid at the 

 bottom of the trench ; then dibble in 

 the crowns in rows, two feet apart, 

 the sets six inches from each other. 

 Asparagus, seakale, and rhubarb may 

 be forced with very little trouble, by 

 making up a hot- bed in an old frame 

 taking up the plants and placing them 

 on it, and covering with any light soil ; 

 if the heat does not hold till the 

 plants have done their work, warm 

 linings must be used. Mr. Fry's sea- 

 kale pot, made by Pascall, of Chisle- 

 hurst, Kent, is an invaluable contri- 

 vance for blanching seakale. 



Flower Garden. — Autumn planted 

 Bulbs will soon be pushing through, 

 and though moderate frosts will do 

 them no harm, it is as well to mulch 

 the beds to guard their foliage from 

 the effect of the severe frosts which 

 frequently follow heavy rains at this 

 season. The best beds of tulips should 

 be covered during storms, if there is 

 any indication of a frost following, 

 but if the weather continue mild and 

 open, let them have the benefit of 

 gentle showers. Tulips, however, are 

 the hardest of all bulbs, but hya- 

 cinths, gladiolus, ranunculus, ane- 

 mones, and Cape bulbs generally, 

 need some little protection during 

 severe weather. During dry weather, 

 it is well, at this season, to stir the 

 surface of tulip beds, to give air to the 

 roots and lay the soil, finely broken, 



