Notes and Gleanings. 251 



Frosted Plants. — '• Whatever is touched with frost keep dark and cool, 

 and damage will be lessened, if not entirely obviated." The effect of frost on 

 plants depends considerably on the state it finds them in. Soft-wooded green- 

 house-plants are killed instaiiter if they are in a moist atmosphere and growing 

 temperature with full enjoyment of light ; but if moderately dry, and well cov- 

 ered so as to be almost in total darkness, very many even of the tenderest will 

 bear a few degrees with impunity. This advice may be of use now ; for we may 

 have a smart time of it yet before the cowslips blossom. If frost gets into a 

 house, and makes its mark on the minimum thermometer, draw down the blind, 

 if you have one, at once, or cover the lights with tarpaulin, straw, or whatever 

 may be at hand to exclude the light ; and be particularly careful not to get up 

 the heat in a hurry. To raise the temperature is, of course, essential ; but it 

 will be well to keep it at about thirty-three degrees for a day at least, that thawing 

 may take place slowly. A few degrees of frost met in this way will do much less 

 harm than is generally inllicted where the terrified cultivator heaps on the fuel, 

 in the mistaken notion that fire is the proper antidote to freezing. The same 

 remark holds good as to fruit. The frost gets into part of the store of apples 

 and pears, and some are frozen hard. If they are allowed to thaw slowly and 

 in the dark, they are not a whit the worse for the visitation. If thawed in full 

 daylight, they would probably melt in the operation. — Floral World. 



Greenhouse Lycopodiums or Selaginellas. — The following selection 

 will do admirably for growing in a conservatory. People very often fail in growing 

 these beautiful and easily-managed plants through exposing them to the same 

 amount of air and light as the hard-wooded plants. The delicate foliage will 

 not stand rough treatment with impunity ; for it soon assumes a brown, rusty 

 color, to prove to the cultivator that the plant is not receiving the right kind of 

 treatment. These plants are propagated by cuttings and division, and thrive 

 best in pans about six inches deep, well drained, and filled with a mixture of 

 fibry peat, loam, and leaf-mould in equal proportions, with plenty of sand. There 

 are many more splendid kinds ; but these are the most suitable for the conserva- 

 tory : Selaginelld apoda, a pretty little dense-growing kind, requires care in 

 watering, otherwise it will go mouldy in the centre ; S. dcuticiilata, the old 

 common kind, but very beautiful and free-growing, — one of the most useful we 

 have ; S.forinosioii. a fine kind, the habit close and massive-looking, very easy 

 to propagate, and grows about a foot high ; S. Martensii, a fine erect, close 

 habit, same height as the preceding ; S. cuspidaia, a. very beautiful growing 

 kind, — foliage forms quite a bird's-nest ; and 5". PFlldenovli, a. fine spreading 

 kind. — Floral IVorld. 



Fine Horseradish. — An English cultivator states that horseradish should 

 he T^lamtd two feel deep ; and adds, that it is the proper method for securing 

 good, long, straight roots. The plants may not show their leaves till June, or 

 even later ; but those from the majority are sure to appear the first year. By 

 the autumn of the second year, these will be fine roots. 



