FRO 



C 801 ] 



FLU 



Secondly. Gradual decrements of 

 temperature are scarcely felt. A myrtle 

 may be forced and subsequently passed 

 to the conservatory, to the cold-pit, and 

 even thence to an open border, if in the 

 south of England, without enduring any 

 injury from the cold of winter; but it 

 would be killed if passed at once from 

 the hothouse to the border. 



Thirdly. The wore saline are the 

 juices of a plant, the less liable are they 

 to congelation by frost. Salt preserves 

 vegetables from injury by sudden transi- 

 tions in the temperature of the atmo- 

 sphere. That salted soil freezes with 

 more reluctance than before the salt is 

 applied, is well known, and that crops of 

 turnips, cabbages, cauliflowers, &c., are 

 similarly preserved, is equally well estab- 

 lished. 



Fourthly. Absence of motion enables 

 plants to endure a lower degree of 

 temperature.. Water may be cooled down 

 to below 32 without freezing; but it 

 solidifies the moment it is agitated. 



The seeds of some plants are benefited 

 by being frozen, for those of the rose and 

 the hawthorn never germinate so freely 

 as after being subjected to the winter 

 frosts. 



Freezing is beneficial to soils, not only 

 by destroying vermin within its bosom, 

 but by aiding the atmosphere to pervade 

 its texture, which texture is also rendered 

 much more friable by the frost. A soil 

 in our climate is rarely frozen to a depth 

 of more than four inches, and in ex- 

 tremely hard winters it does not penetrate 

 more than six inches in light soils, and 

 ten inches in those that contain more 

 clay, or an excess of moisture. 



If a plant be frozen, dip it into the 

 coldest water, or syringe it, and put it 

 into a dark, cold cellar, so that it may 

 thaw gradually. 



FROST, DEGREES OF. When a gardener 

 uses this phrase, he means degrees oi 

 cold below 32, the freezing point of 

 water. 



FROTH-FLY. See TETTIGONIA. 

 FRUIT-ROOM. Fruit for storing should 

 be gathered before it is quite mature ; 

 for the ripening process, the formation 

 of sugar, with its attendant exhalation o* 

 carbonic acid and water, goes on as well 

 in the fruit-room as in the open air at the 

 season when the functions of the leaves 

 have ceased, and the fruit no longer en- 

 larges. In gathering fruit, every care 



should be adopted to avoid bruising ; nnrt, 

 to this end, in the case of apples, pear*, 

 quinces, and medlars, let the gathering 

 aasket be lined throughout with sacking, 

 and let the contents of each basket be 

 carried at once to a floor covered with 

 sand, and taken out one by one, not 

 poured out, as is too usual, into a basket, 

 and then again from this into a heap ; for 

 this systematic mode of inflicting small 

 bruises is sure to usher in decay, inas- 

 much as that it bursts the divisional 

 membranes of the cells containing the 

 juice, and this being extravasated, 

 speedily passes from the stage of spi- 

 rituous fermentation to that of putre- 

 faction. To avoid this is the principal 

 object of fruit storing, whilst, at the same 

 time, it is necessary that the fruit shall be 

 kept firm and juicy. Now it so happens 

 that the means required to secure the 

 one also effects the other. 



The following, we think, will be found 

 safe principles to guide the inexpe- 

 rienced: 



Site. A. somewhat low level, with a 

 sub-soil, perfectly dry, or rendered so. 

 We have said low, because we feel as- 

 sured that by keeping the floor, if pos- 

 sible, even a little below the ground 

 level, less fluctuation of temperature will 

 be experienced. Sooner, however, than 

 be liable to much damp, we would go as 

 much above the level as is necessary in 

 order to avoid it. Concrete should be 

 used for the flooring, and a portion of the 

 foundation walls done in cement, to pre- 

 vent the transmission of damp upwards 

 by capillary attraction. The rats and 

 mice are great annoyances; the cement 

 and concrete would keep them at arm's 

 length. A preventive drainage may he 

 applied also round the exterior, if the 

 locality be clamp. 



Aspect. An easterly or northerly 

 one ; any point but south or south-west. 



Frost. The house to be rendered per- 

 fectly secure against this. We would 

 never have the general store-room sink 

 below forty or rise above fifty degrees. 

 To create an artificial warmth, and 

 merely to keep out the cold, or rather, to 

 procure, as much as possible, the amount 

 of warmth which the interior possesses, 

 are two very different affairs. The pre- 

 servation of the natural interior warmth 

 in winter is best effected by double walls, 

 possessing a cavity of some three inches 

 in v/idth. The power of what are termed 



