214 THE PHILADELPHIA FLORIST. [Nov'r 



to be, in light shady ground, the advice is excellent. On stiff soils, ^ 

 it makes bad worse. As soon as the asparagus stems are ripe and cut ^/- 

 off, give the bed a good covering of stable manure, and let it lie all \ 

 winter. The same may be said of rhubarb and all similar vegeta- 

 bles. Rhubarb can be had very nice at Christmas by taking up care- 

 fully a few roots, potting them, or in boxes, and placing them in a warm, 

 dark cellar. Mushrooms, also may be had very easily by placing 

 half dry manure, that had not undergone much fermentation before 

 it became half rotten, in boxes, rammed in tight, and spawn placed 

 on the top, with about an inch of dry soil on the top of the whole — 

 and the box placed anywhere, where a temperature of 65° can be 

 maintained. Endive when blanched can be kept in use all winter 

 by being kept in a cool, dry place, free from frost, and darkened. 

 The plants must be taken up with as much earth as will adhere, and 

 closely packed side by side. If there is a spare frame, nothing would 

 be more desirable than to plant it closely with Lettuce. They will 

 come in use very early. Carrots, Parsxips, Salsafy, &c, should 

 be taken up before frost sets in, and packed away in layers of sand, 

 in order to avoid fermentation. Celery is best preserved by being 

 taken up, placed in rows thickly together, covered with soil, loose 

 straw thrown over it, the whole, kept dry by boards or old shutters. 



T.J. 



e /iorist anb ^orftaiittmil Journal 



Philadelphia, November, 1852. 



The knell of the departed season has been sounded, and nature 

 once more prepared to enter into the annual state of quietude and re- 

 pose designed to recruit the exhausted system of active vegetable life, 

 and to vary the aspect and character of this creation, so nicely arrang- 

 ed for human gratification and enjoyment : — the season of flowers has 

 passed away, and it would be vain and unreasonable in us to attempt 

 to recal or prolong it, as in the immutable course of natural laws it 

 shall return when the devastation caused by the purifying frost and 

 nutritious snow shall have prepared us for a fresh appreciation of the 

 gifts of spring. Yet Art, in its stubborn attempts to modify, has al- 

 most defied Nature. The winter gardens of older nations do not quite 

 yield to the requirements of the season — do not relinquish altogether 

 the summer verdure, but preserve for the gratification of a few, the 

 pleasant accompaniments to the social enjoyments of the winter sea- 

 son — verdure and flowers. The winter gardens of America are scatter- 

 ed, not concentrated into one place. We have as yet no Jardind''- 

 Hiver, as there is at Paris, nor Crystal Palace as at Sydenham; nor can 

 we, by accumulated capital in our free Republic, realise what the law 

 of primogeniture easily effects in monarchical countries. Yet we are 

 £rnot quite destitute of the benefits of the winter garden, and we are ^j 



te>^__ ^qm 



