■well-regulated pit or frame ia the open air. I have tried this in various ways and always 

 found it succeed, if properly attended to. At the present time, all my plants intended to 

 be put into the borders next year, or brought into the house, are in a large two-light 

 frame, the management of which I will endeavor to describe. The frame stanis about 

 two feet from the ground, sheltered by a south wall, on an exhausted hot-bed, on which 

 Cucumbers were growing in the spring. The mould of this bed having been kept from 

 rain in the early autumn, at the close of October the pots were sunk into it up to the 

 rims. A double light was then put on, by which wet and frost are more effectually ex- 

 cluded, and in the following December the soil around the pots was quite dry. Around 

 the frame long stable dung is piled up about eighteen inches in width, and level with the 

 top. Over the whole an old carpet is thrown when necessary ; and I have no appre- 

 hension that I shall lose anything if dampness does not defeat my efforts. Every day 

 when it is not frosty, air must be freely admitted, and dead or mildewed leaves must be 

 carefully removed. When frost sets in, two or three extra mats may be laid on, and the 

 whole kept on till a thaw takes place. On no account remove the coverings until at 

 least a day after the frost is gone. This is a very important rule, for the admission of 

 light may be fatal if any of the leaves should be frozen. When plants are found frozen 

 in windows, &c., let them thaw in a dark cellar, and they will often sustain no injury. 

 In this way I have preserved Pelargoniums, Calceolarias, Verbenas, Hydrangeas, &c. ; 

 and the freshness of the whole collection after the winter has passed away has always 

 been encouraging. Ordinary greenhouse plants may therefore be preserved by every 

 one during the hardest winter. 



THE NEW CHINESE POTATO, OR YAM. 



FROM THE MARK LANE EXPRESS. 



We have all of us our favorite theories on particular subjects ; and there are few people 

 who have not cherished one of their own concerning that precious esculent, the potato, 

 and its mysterious " disease." Having arrived at last at a crop of theories on the subject 

 as multiform as the varieties to which that singular root itself has yielded in the progress 

 of cultivation — and it yields a number from the seed of every plant — the bewildered 

 public will be scarcely less glad of the chance of escaping from it altogether to a new and 

 preferable substitute, than they would be of the actual discovery of a remedy for the for- 

 midable disease by which it is afHictcd. To the French — who are, next after the Chinese, 

 perhaps the best and most enterprising as, difficulties considered, they are doubtless the 

 most successful gardening husbandmen in the world — we are indebted for the fairest 

 prospect of this refuge from potato famine that has yet been propounded. We would not 

 bo ungrateful to the potato, and could not find it in our heart to despise it; and if wo are 

 about to relinquish it, diseased or not, we could only consent to renounce the root for a 

 better. Cobbctt's rash abhorrence of it was political. He did not understand its history ; 

 we may be allowed to say its history, notwithstanding the amusing anecdotes with 

 it teems, has always been misunderstood. Thus if the Irish adored, and adore it, 



VOL. 5. 



K 2. 



