CALENDAR. 309 



Cucumbers. We have now long damp nights and dull 

 sunless days, conditions very trying to cucumbers. The 

 temperature should range from 65 at night to 70 by day, 

 with a few degrees more when the sun shines. Water at 

 the root and moisture in the air must be more sparingly 

 applied. Give a little air on all favourable occasions. Keep 

 young growths regularly stopped, and do not allow any 

 crowding of foliage. If green -fly attack them, destroy it 

 by two moderate smokings with tobacco on two consecutive 

 nights. 



Strawberries in Pots. These should now be plunged in 

 cold frames, or removed to cold late peach-houses, where they 

 will be sheltered from rains. Or where no such protection 

 can be made available for them, build them into stacks, 

 laying the pots on their sides with the plants outwards, and 

 fill up the space between them with ashes or sawdust. Put 

 up in this way, they can readily be protected from severe 

 frost by throwing mats or litter over them. 



DECEMBER. 



Pines. Early autumn-potted suckers that are well rooted, 

 and wintering in dry light pits or houses, with bottom-heat 

 supplied by hot-water pipes, will require to be carefully ex- 

 amined at intervals, and watered before they become " dusty " 

 dry. This must be guarded against by watering those that 

 require it at intervals. This applies most forcibly to a time 

 of cold weather, when more firing is required to keep up the 

 proper temperature, which should now be at its minimum, 

 the days being generally sunless and short. Young stock 

 winter with the best results at a temperature not exceed- 

 ing 55 for at least six weeks at the dullest part of the year. 

 At this season, when autumn fruit has been mostly cut, more 

 room can generally be given to young stock. Where early 



