FBI 



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FBI 



early, may be planted when divided 

 into beds in the grouped flower-garden, 

 which they will highly ornament, and 

 will die down early enough to be suc- 

 ceeded by summer flowers. This spe- 

 cies is too large for pots. 



3uil. The Crown Imperial, with its 

 varieties, should be planted in a deep 

 rid i soil, well drained. If the soil is 

 not rich, it must be made so by the 

 addition of a good dressing of well-de- 

 composed manure. The stems send 

 out, just above the bulbs, a large num- 

 ber of young strong shoots. The plants 

 will be benefited in that stage by a top 

 dressing of very decayed duiig placed 

 close to the stems. 



If. the smaller species be cultivated 

 in pots, the proper soil for them will be 

 a compost of turfy loam, peat, and 

 vegetable mould in equal parts. 



Growing Season. All the smaller 

 kinds of the Fritillary will flower beau- 

 tifully in pots. Pot them in October 

 in 5-inch pots, four bulbs in each, in 

 a light rich compost. Plunge the pots 

 in coal ashes in a bed, and protect 

 them through the winter with hoops 

 and mats. There they may remain till 

 they flower, and then be removed into 

 the greenhouse. When intended to 

 bloom in the open ground, plant them 

 in patches in the mixed flower- border. 



Resting Season. As soon as the 

 blooming season is over and the leaves 

 decayed, take the bulbs up and keep 

 them in a cool, rather moist place, till 

 the season for planting arrives again. 



FROG ORCHIS. Gymnadc'nia vi'ridis. 



FROST. If a plant be fro/en, and 

 though some defy the attacks of frost, 

 others are very liable to its fatal influ- 

 ence, death is brought upon them as it 

 is in the animal frame, by a complete 

 breaking down of their tissue ; their 

 vessels are ruptured, and putrefaction 

 follows. 



The following contingencies render 

 a plant especially liable to be fro/en. 



First. Moisture renders a plant sus- 

 ceptible of cold. Every gardener 

 knows tliis. If the air of his green- 

 house he dry, the plants within may 

 be submitted to a temperature of -'52 

 without injury, provided the return to 

 a higher temperature be gradual. 



j Secondly. Gradual decrements of 



I temperature are scarcely felt. A myrtle 



i may be forced and subsequently passed 



to the conservatory, to the cold-pit, and 



j 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 more saline are the 

 juices of a plant, the less liable are they 

 to congelation by frost. Salt preserves 

 vegetables from injury by sudden tran- 

 sitions in the temperature of the at- 

 mosphere. 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 established. 



Fourthly Absence of motion enables 

 plants to endure a lower degree of 

 temperature. Water may be cooled 

 down to below 82 without free/ing, 

 but it solidifies the moment it is agi- 

 tated. 



The seeds of some plants are bene- 

 fited by being frozen, for those of the 

 rose and the hawthorn never germinate 

 so freely as after being subjected to 

 the winter frosts. 



Free/ing 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 extremely 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 lie 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 of 

 cold below 32, the freezing point of 

 water. 



FROTH-FLY. See Tcttigo' nhi. 



FRUIT -ROOM. Fruit for storing 



should be gathered before it is quite 



mature, for the ripening process, the 



formation of sugar, with its attendant 



