CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS FOR FEBRUARY. 



295 



ing-pots by and by; therefore, if 

 the soil is not prepared for it al- 

 ready, it mast be mixed now. The 

 plants at pi'esent only want the 

 usual treatment continued. 



Cohimbines are somewhat neg- 

 lected ; but they are the most 

 elegant of all border perennials, 

 and capable of being produced in 

 almost endless variety, comprising 

 all shades of blue and white, all 

 shades of red and white, and self- 

 colours of every shade without 

 white. When perfectly double 

 they are beautifully formed, and 

 whether seen in masses at a 

 distance, or in the hand as a cut 

 flower, it is impossible to admire 

 them too much. As the perennial 

 roots of these will move well now, 

 although there is perhaps little or 

 no leaf above ground, let thera be 

 placed at once where they are to 

 bloom. 



Ddhlins. — Put all the roots in 

 tended for propagation in suitable 

 sized pots with ordinary soil, and 

 place them in a hotbed, or the 

 greenhouse or stove ; but such 

 tubers as are intended to be 

 merely parted may be thrown into 

 the hotbed or stove without pot- 

 ting, because, when the eyes have 

 fairly started, the roots or tubers 

 may be cut in pieces so long as 

 there is one eye to one piece; and 

 the warmth will expose their eyes 

 before potting as well as after 

 it. It is necessary to water the 

 tubers occasif)nally, or they might 

 dry up ; and as soon as they show 

 their eyes they should be cut up, 

 with a sharp and large knife, into 

 as many pieces as you can make 

 with a good eye to each piece, 

 and pot these pieces in pots as 

 small as will take the tubers ; but 

 tliHse may be shortened consider- 

 ably to make them go into as 

 small a sized pot as possible to 



accommodate them ; for, if this 

 were not discreetly done, large 

 pots would be required for some, 

 and the room occupied by the pots 

 would be greater than could be 

 afforded. Seed may be sown in 

 pans or wide-mouthed pots to- 

 wards the end of the month, if 

 you are anxious to be forward 

 with any particular kinds, only 

 you must be provided with room 

 to accommodate them with proper 

 protection till the middle of IMay. 



Fimne Plants. — All plants in 

 frames without heat should have 

 as much air as can possibly be 

 given on mild days, the surface 

 of the earth stirred when it seems 

 damp or mossy, and the drainage 

 should be examined ; for in such 

 case it will often be found clogged 

 up by earth at the proper outlet, 

 or the soil so completely run in 

 among the crocks at the bottom 

 of the pot as to choke them alto- 

 gether. Tiie plants should be 

 cleared of dead leaves. 



Geomefiual Garden. — The beds 

 in this garden should have been 

 filled with evergreens in pots since 

 the destruction of the autumnal 

 flowers. For the sake of variety 

 the beds may now be re-arranged, 

 and different combinations of the 

 plants effected. By the aid of 

 two or thiee changes of this kind 

 in the winter season, a set of 

 potted evergreens may he made to 

 impart much variety, as well as life, 

 to the geometrical garden during 

 the dead season of the year, wlien 

 the beds cannot be filled with 

 flowers. The different vai'iegated 

 evergreens are of great value for 

 this purpose, and so are all suoh 

 evei-greens as carry berries through 

 the winter — the Holly, for example, 

 of which alone in the laurel- 

 leaved, the saw-leaved, the com- 

 mon prickly, the hedgehog prickly, 



