THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 31 



should never be thoroughly blanched, but allowed to become green at the points. 

 Protect celery with loose litter, and keep it well earthed up. Examine cauliflowers 

 and lettuces, etc., in frames, to see that they are not suffering from damp or too close 

 confinement. Frames should be protected in severe frosts by matting, etc. Sow 

 early peas and broad beans, and towards the end of the month parsnips. The work 

 must be regulated by the weather, and when the ground is not fit to be trodden on, 

 get together all the clippings of hedges, prunings of trees, etc., for charring, and 

 keep the produce under cover for use as required ; it forms a most valuable top- 

 dressing for peas and other early crops ; it stimulates growth, and prevents attacks 

 of slugs. Should severe weather interfere with earth-work, good work may be 

 found in repairing fences, clearing up litter, collecting rough materials for paths and 

 drains, and burning weeds and refuse. 



FRUIT GABDEN 



Finish pruning all apple, pear, plum, and other orchard trees, and clean up all 

 affected with blight, and dress with a mixture of lime, soot, and clay. Trees on 

 east walls had better be unnailed to keep them back, the warmth of the wall having 

 a tendency to make them push early, and so suffer hereafter from spring frosts. 

 Prune cut-door vines at once ; when pruned late tbey are sure to bleed. Lay down 

 a good coating of surface manure in plantations of strawberries and raspberries, but 

 do not dig it in. Do the same between currant and gooseberry trees, and fork it in, 

 being careful not to injure the roots. In pruning the fruit trees save any scions 

 that may be required for grafting by heeling them in at the foot of the tree they are 

 taken from. They will take all the better for being cut some time before being 

 used. Make ready protecting material for wall trees, for sharp weather often sets in 

 from the east, just as the bloom is expanding. 



GIE-NHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 



Ventilate whenever weather permits, and drive out damp with fire-heat, hut be 

 in no haste to set things going. Should mildew appear on the top shoot of gera- 

 niums, cut it at once to a sound joint. Training specimen plants is a pretty task 

 when out-door work is at a stand-still. Kalmias, azaleas, camellias rhododendrons, 

 lilacs, daphnes, roses, etc., may be got into early bloom with a very moderate heat, 

 if the wood was well ripened last year. Fuchsias, cinerarias, primulas, and cytisuses 

 will be coming into bloom, and must be closely watched that green-fly does not get 

 hold of the tender shoots. Succulents should be kept quite dry. Examine all the 

 old stakes used as supports to plants in pots, and if decaying, remove them. Train 

 and tie out whatever requires it ; revise tallies and labels ; keep down green-fly by 

 fumigating, secure composts, pots, crocks, etc., and complete all odd jobs so as to 

 have no hindrances in the busy season. Temperature may be 40° to 45° at night, 

 •50 p to 55° by day. 



STOVE. 



Poinsettia pulcherrima and Euphorbia jacquiniflora may be pushed into flower, 

 and achimines and gloxinias put in heat for early blooming. Be careful to keep 

 down temperature in general collections, and give air whenever the sun causes the 

 thermometer to rise above the average. Plants that need pruning and repotting 

 should be cut over and left to start before their roots are disturbed. Orchids require 

 much care now to keep them at rest, and at the same time prevent shrivelling. 

 Those that will grow must be assisted, and have fresh rooting material if necessary. 

 Keep constant watch among plants with soft, woolly leaves, to see that they are not 

 too dry, and also not suffering from drip. If mildew appears, increase the tempera- 

 ture. Cucumbers and melons for early use should be got in at once. Temperature 

 for general collections 55" at night, 60° to 05° by day. 



PITS AND riUMIS 



Must be kept clean and airy, and not a dead leaf should be allowed to remain. Be 

 content just to keep out frost and no more until the end of the month, when a 

 general start may be made of all stock required for bedding out. Do not be in 

 haste to remove protecting materials after severe frost. Let the plants recover 

 themselves in the dark, and should bright sun follow suddenly upon severe weather, 

 add some loose straw, or other light covering, to prevout the warmth reaching the 

 stock too suddenly. 



January. 



