55 



CAUGHT NAPPING. 



KEAT as was the panic on the Stock Exchange in 1S66, scarcely less can 

 ' ' n? said of the consternation amonirst i2;ardeners on the morninii of January 



4th, 1S67. The Madeira tenipeiatnre of the previous week was suddenly 

 changed to that of Arctic severity, but, fortunately for all out-door plants, 

 the earth had been covered with a warm mantle of snow. However para- 

 doxical this may appear to some, it is a fact nevertheless, and all gardeners were 

 only too thankful to see sucii a timely protection as the thick coating of snow that 

 had fallen the night before. The late Donald Beaton used to say. that two inches 

 of snow on cold frames would keep out more frost than half a 'dozen mats : and 

 such, no doubt, is the case, as the state of the plants in such pLices proved of late, 

 not one having scarcely the appearance of being touched by frost, whereas in the 

 greenhouses, with the aid of heating apparatus, many things have suffered consider- 

 ably ; for boilers will act treachtrously, and fires will turn sulky iu stoves, as well 

 as in rooms, as housemaids can testify, and attribute the cause to the ill humour of 

 their sweethearts. Where there is a regular stati' of gardeners kept, of course every- 

 thing ought to be perfectly safe, although, no doubt, they occasionally tind them- 

 selves iu the same dileuuna as other people, tor it often happens that where there 

 are plenty of hands to do a thing it never gets done at all, or only half done. But 

 thoje in a position to keep a set of gardeners rarely know what phvnts they posst-ss, 

 consequently never know what they lose. It is very ditferent, however, with the 

 amateur. He knows full well the extmt of his stock, and where every favourite is 

 to be found, and it is the amateur, whether he keeps a gardener or not, that looks to 

 liis stovo last thing at night, regulat<.s the apparatus so as to keep the tire iu all 

 uiiiht. and give out suflioieut heat to keep the wa:er in a simmering state till 

 morning. It is just this sort of managemeut, hewever, that fails iu such a winter as 

 this, when the tliermometer sinks below zero, as it did on the night of January 

 3rd, and on that very nii;ht nine-tenths of the amateur gardeners (myself among the 

 uumb-r) were '• caught napping ;" for although the usual attention may be suffi- 

 cient to keep out the frost of ordinary winters, it quite fails to do so in such a season 

 as the present one. It required constar;t attention the whole of tlie night, I am told 

 by nui-serynien, to keep up sufficient heat to exclude the frost ; and those who went 

 coiufortiibly to bed at dleven o'clock, and bid farewell to their fires by giving a 

 friendly poke and a little more fuel, tbund on the morrow a very sorr^- >pectaole, 

 and one that gave thorn almost us great a chill as the plants. It is difficult to know, 

 when overtaken with such a misfortune, the best thing to do ; but the plan I 

 adopted myself, and whicli was attended with considerable success, was to remove 

 them at cnce into a dark cellar, belore the sun had time to get round upon the house, 

 and shtd its fatal rays upon tliL-m. This, of course, is a troublesome operation, and 

 when the cold is so intense that j-ou can scarcely feel the pots iu your hands, it is 

 anything but agreeable, but the constant exercise ol running up and down stairs, 

 with all the help you can muster (for what has to be done must be done quickly), 

 soon gets your blood into circulation, and the work is done almost as soon as it is 

 thouglit of. Iu this dark abode they were kept for some days, without admitting a 

 particle of light, the temperature being about 3o\ Some of them were immersed in 

 cold water, whilst others were not, and I am not quit^ sure whether it is not better 

 to let them alone, as several of those that were immersed looked in a very pitiable 

 condition, ispecially a large pot o'[ Francoa ramosa, which, singular to sav, is sup- 

 posed to be nearly haidy. Muny Lycopoainms were quite restored by watering, and 

 Camellias and Azaleas appeared very little the worse the following day, the Camellisis 

 especially ; but it is not surprising t! at they should not be hurt, as most of them are 

 perfectly hardy ; in fact, one tree that I had planted against a west wall in the 

 uutuiuu looks as well as possible, whilst a shrubby Veronica near to it looks as black 

 as if it had been boiled. Many of the hardiest plants have been caught severely 

 where the tops came out above the snow and were exposed to the sun, whereas the 

 lower parts are as fre-h and green as they are in May. It is this that gives us such 

 comfort when we think of our tea roSvS. the tops of which are killed outright, but 

 are not the least the worse for that. I did not think it well to te>t the hardiness of 

 Marcchal Neil, about which theie has been some little ditVerence of opinion of late; 

 on the contrary, I took the precaution just in time of covering it well with dry fern, 



