FEBRUARY. 63 



menced, the extent of the losses will have been ascertained. Cuttings 

 will now strike readily, but should the roots be secured by being 

 started, the forcing should be moderate, not to exhaust the root, as 

 March is the best time for making healthy plants easily ; some make 

 sufficient by dividing the root only. Pot roots should not be started 

 for a month to come, or seed sown. 



Forcing Ground, — No better plan of procuring forced Asparagus 

 economically exists than by taking up three or four years old plants and 

 placing them in pits or frames over a gentle bottom heat. Where beds 

 are arranged to admit of linings being applied to the roots, and the 

 surface protected, now is a good time to begin to have the Grass early in 

 March. Bring forward successions of Seakale and Rhubarb, and plant 

 a quantity of good forcing kinds of early Potatoes in a little heat, to 

 sprout ready for transferring to frames towards the end of the month. 



Flower Garden. — A fine time now for carrying out any alterations 

 in this department. Prepare soils for the beds, to be ready for digging 

 in in March. Take care of Crocuses and other early bulbs, of which 

 mice are very fond. 



Forcing Shrubs. — There is nothing in this way half so beautiful 

 as forced Roses, which are universally admired. If you wish to succeed 

 well, strike the plants yourselves from cuttings, or at any rate buy plauts 

 on their own roots. Our plan is to grow these in a good.open situation 

 for two or three years, till they get to a good size, and then take up 

 and pot in very rich soil. If this is done in October, and the pots are 

 plunged in a frame, with a little bottom heat for the roots, they 

 will answer admirably the first season, if not worked too hard. Add 

 Honeysuckles, the common and scarlet Thorn, Sweet Briar, and Mock 

 Orange. The hardy Chinese Azalea amcena, and seedlings from it, 

 are among the prettiest and freest to flower of all forced shrubs. 



Fruit (hardy). — Filberts may be pruned towards the end of the 

 month, when the blossoms appear. Cut out all very weak and unpro- 

 ductive wood, allowing a good share of the male catkins to stay on. 

 Where new fruit trees are wanted, lose no time in procuring and 

 planting them. Our pages contain much valuable information on 

 making borders, &c, and also of lists of the most suitable kinds for 

 various parts of Britain. Pruning and nailing should be forwarded 

 at once. Bush fruits, after pruning, should have good dressings of 

 manure spread over the surface, to allow the rains to wash it in. 



Fuchsias. — (See article in the present number). 



Greenhouse (hard-wooded*). — Winter flowering Heaths and 

 Epacrises should have a light situation. Hiemalis, Wilmoreana, 

 rubra calyx, mutabilis, vernix, are valuable at this season. Look well 

 over New Holland and Cape plants, to prevent damp. Keep the 

 surface soil free from Moss and Lichens, which prevent evaporation, 

 and ultimately ruin the plants. Water only when dry, and then 

 effectively. Keep the house cool and rather dry, and don't allow the 

 plants to get excited into growth for some time. Soft-wooded Plants. 

 — Guard against the attacks of green-fly by timely fumigating. Shift 

 Cinerarias, Calceolarias, and Pelargoniums, for late blooming; these 

 plants should be kept rather warmer than the above. 



