164 



THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



allowed to enjoy all the light and air admissible. Prepare 

 sticks and stakes, and repair trellises, verandahs, lattice- 

 work, rock-work, and arbours, now that the plants which 

 decorate them are dormant. 



JANUARY. 



The work now mainly depends on the weather ; but 

 N.B. you have not so much time before you as you had 

 in December. Look over your cold frames ; give all the 

 air you dare, and dust with flowers of sulphur at the first 

 symptom of mildew. Tour hyacinths in pots will be 

 starting. Look sharp after wood-lice, slugs, and aphides ; 

 an ounce or two of Scotch snuff are well bestowed in 

 doctoring the last. "Slow and sure" is the motto to 

 affix over the portal of the forcing department. How 

 are you off for silver-sand, pasture-loam, rotted cow, 

 sheep, and rabbit manure, peat-earth, defunct and cold 

 cucumber-beds, and good alluvial loam with a touch of 

 clay in it ? For horses, shut up in their stables during 

 this dead season, slow carting is a healthy treat. What 

 is the substance which Liebig and other learned men 

 call "humus," and the French gardeners style " ter- 

 reau?" What are its composition, uses, and applica- 

 tion ? Do you think you could contrive to compound a 

 little " humus ? " If a supply of it had not been made 

 by somebody before your time, horticultural prospects 

 would not look so bright as they do. See to your supply 

 of pots, pegs, and labels. Thin out flowering shrubs, 

 where too crowded. Keep everything indoors fresh, neat, 

 dr}r, and well ventilated ; under cover, at least, you may 

 do nearly as you please. Call over your muster-roll for 

 next summer's campaign ; nurse the invalids in hospi- 

 tal, take care of the healthy, train the undisciplined, 

 keep down the upstarts, restrain the wanderers without 

 being afraid of pinching them hard, bury the dead 

 decently, and raise up a new generation with all your 

 might and main. Don't work the ground when it is 

 sodden, muddy, or rendered sticky by a recent frost ; 



