332 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



winter, might probably be so preserved. It would, However, be 

 better to keep them apart, because they might suffer from too much 

 dryness. 



" Let us not, however, be misunderstood in the sense in which 

 we use the word dryness. "We do not mean that the soil of plants 

 in a hybernatory is to be as dry as dust, or like that of a sunny 

 hedge in the dog-days. We mean that it is not to be wet, or even 

 damp enough to engender mosses and green scum, or by its evapo- 

 ration to render the walls perceptibly moist. If the soil is dried up, 

 it will kill the plants enclosed in it ; but no person can be a gar- 

 dener who will not now understand what we mean ; nor is the over- 

 drying the earth likely to occur when plants are exposed to the 

 ordinary atmosphere, even if enclosed in such pits as we have 

 described; for the soil, though originally too dry, will gradually 

 absorb the moisture of the atmosphere that acts upon it. Perhaps 

 it would be even possible to winter half-hardy plants by packing 

 them in a chest kept in a dry and frost-proof chamber, arranging 

 them layer upon layer, resting on crossbars so as not to touch each 

 other. If this was attempted, it would, however, be necessary that 

 no packing should be introduced between the pots, for it would 

 become mouldy, and that would destroy the plants. Nor could the 

 chest be preserved in a kitchen corner, as has been suggested, for 

 that would be too warm. The chamber to hold them should be 

 frost-proof, and no more. We cannot, however, recommend this 

 expedient, because, although plants might thus live through the 

 winter, they would probably perish on the approach of spring. At 

 that season, and long before the frosts are gone, it would be neces- 

 sary to expose them to light, and to give them water upon which to 

 feed, and frames of some sort would be required for that purpose. 

 Now if there is a frame of any sort in the gardener's possession, he 

 may just as well fill it with plants during winter in the way pointed 

 out, as leave it empty and pack up his plants in boxes. Oiled linen 

 would do very well for sashes. 



"As space is often a great object in a garden, where there is 

 seldom much room allotted to hybernatories, we may as well add 

 that, instead of taking up half-hardy plants, and attempting to pre- 

 serve them, it is better to leave them in the borders to their fate, 

 and to propagate pans full of cuttings of such things early enougb 

 to be well rooted by the end of September. Cuttings thus prepared 

 may be inserted in their frames, and in this way thousands of plants 

 will only occupy the space of fifties." 



By the help of the above directions any person may contrive to 

 make a hybernatory of a size and of materials suited to circum- 

 stances, and thus, without the necessity for stove-heat, preserve 

 sufficient varieties to fill up his borders in the summer with plants 

 of the choicest description. In small gardens the plants — particu- 

 larly calceolarias, etc. — should always be retained in the pots, and 

 plunged ; this is the best practice, even for extensive shrubberies, 

 for if the roots are allowed to ramble they do not flower so freely, 

 but run to wood and foliage, and will seldom survive repotting in 

 the winter. 





