MONTHLY CALENDAR. 265 



the thermometer still ranges from 28° to 53°, including the night and day 



temperature, the mean maximum being 49° 9", and the mean minimum 



40° 49'. 



*' Bold March ! Winter sees thee, and calls to his train 

 The sleet and the snow, and the wind and the rain ; 

 And they shrink away, and they flee in fear, 

 When thy bold and merry steps draw near." 



712. In looking over our notes for this busy month, we light upon a few 

 hints for the garden, by a well-known florist, which will not be out of place 

 here, although they are embodied in other language elsewhere. They refer to 

 all-important subjects. 



713. I. Drainage. — However high and apparently dry a situation may appear 

 to ordinary observers, it is quite possible that it requires to be drained. The 

 object of draining is not only to get rid of superfluous moisture, but also to 

 prevent the little there may be from remaining stagnant. It is quite a common 

 occurrence to find a piece of ground that is never too wet, but which is, never- 

 theless, sour and unfitted for the cultivation of delicate flowers. It should, 

 therefore, be the first care of the florist to make drains from the highest part 

 of the ground to the lowest, three feet from the surface, dug the shape of a V ; 

 and if there be no outlet at the lowest part, to dig a hole, or well, or pond, into 

 which all these should lead, even when there is no apparent means of getting 

 rid of the water. At the bottom of these drains a row of common earthen pipes 

 of 2-inch bore may be placed, end to end, and be covered up again with the 

 soil. They are too deep to cause any danger of disturbance in ordinary opera- 

 tions ; but the effect is to let air into the soil, if there be no surplus moisture ; 

 and to prevent the lodgment of water anywhere : about a rod apart, in parallel 

 lines, will be sufficiently close for the drains, and a larger drain along the 

 bottom, or a ditch, may lead at once to the outlet or the receptacle for the 

 water. Suppose, however, the place is really surcharged with water, and 

 there is no place but the pond made for the purpose into which this water can 

 pass, and suppose, while we are imagining evils, that this hole fills higher than 

 the bottoms of the drains, it is obvious, in such cases, that the drains cannot 

 empty themselves. Be not discomforted : if they can only discharge all the 

 water in the driest season, immense good is done by the drainage, although 

 these are the most unfavourable circumstances under which the garden can be 

 placed ; and if the pond be not too large, the gai'den-engine may be set to 

 work to lower the water by throwing it over the surface ; and although it may 

 fill as fast as it is taken away, there is a circulation of the water in the soil, 

 instead of the moisture being stagnant, and the ground made sour. If pipes 

 cannot be had, use large stones, or even bushes ; but, troublesome as the 

 operation may appear, it will amply repay a man for the trouble in the com- 

 parative or complete success of his culture. 



714. II. Soil and Composts. — The best soil in which to cultivate all kinds of 

 florists' flowers is a friable loam ; and if there be as much as two spadesful in 

 depth, his work will be half done for him ; because, instead of having to make 



