132 THE AURICULA. 



this is their principal preparation. Very few of 

 them, especially the weavers, have frames and 

 lights, but they make use of weather-boarding with 

 hinges, fixed against some wall or fence, in a south 

 aspect, to defend them against the rain and snow, 

 resting, when shut close, upon a board nine inches 

 high ; but this is never done except in very severe 

 weather : the pots are plunged up to the rim in sand, 

 or coal-ashes ; in blooming time they set their large 

 show plants under hand-glasses, in an east aspect, 

 to receive the morning sun only. The plants are 

 perhaps not so early in bloom as those wintered in 

 frames, but then their stems are not drawn, and they 

 are able to support the trusses firmly ; the mildew 

 and rot do not take them so readily as when in closer 

 situations. 



NOVEMBER, DECEMBER, AND JANUARY. 



As my intention was, when I first set about this 

 small work, npt to enter into all the minute history 



