ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AtfD FARMING. 361 



and should there be allowed to stand over in a state of rest. 

 According to your accommodations, select a few vigorous, 

 symmetrical, hearty, healthy plants for the window. One 

 plant well tended, will afford you more pleasure than twen 

 ty, half-nurtured. 



In our dwellings, one has to make his way between two 

 extremes in the best manner that he can. Without a stove 

 our thin-walled houses are cold as an ice-house, and a frosty 

 night sends sad dismay among our favorites. Then, on the 

 other hand, if we have a stove, the air is apt to be parched, 

 and unwholesome, fit for salamanders, fat and torpid cats 

 and dozing grandmothers. There is not much choice be 

 tween an ice-house . and an oven. There can be no such 

 thing as floral health without fresh air and enough of it. 

 This must be procured by frequent ventilation. 



PROTECTING PLANTS IN WINTER. 



VERY many shrubs, vines, roses, etc., usually regarded as 

 tender, may yet be safely left standing in the garden if 

 properly protected. 



The neck of plants, i. e. that part at which the roots and 

 stem come together, requires thorough protection ; both 

 because it is the most tender (as some say), and because it 

 is at this point, that freezing and sudden thawing must 

 occur. The black soil absorbing heat rapidly, the neck of 

 a plant will be first and most affected by the morning sun ; 

 and this is the reason, we think, rather than any special 

 tenderness of parts, why plants are killed at the crown of 

 the root. Let the ground be well covered with leaves or 

 with coarse manure, and let it come up three or four inches 

 high on the stem. It is better to have the top strawy, 

 rather than dark colored manure. 



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