OPERATIONS FOR FEBRUARY. 
23 
spike of flowers in Messrs. Loddiges' establishment at Hackney, in the commencement of the 
present year, it appears to be highly deserving of extension ; and a larger specimen under favour- 
able circumstances must be a magnificent object. Drawings prepared from native specimens 
represent it as an abundant blooming plant. It has a short stem, from the upper part of which 
the flower-spike proceeds. The blossoms have an oblong obtuse lip of a purplish cast, with a rich 
violet spot of considerable breadth near the extremity, which gradually merges into the paler hue. 
It has much of the lively appearance of Epidendrum Skinneri, but the flowers are something 
larger. It should be cultivated on a log of wood, and suspended from the roof ; or, like Messrs. 
Loddiges' plant, it may be grown on a block, with one end cut plane to stand on a shelf, and the 
other cut in a sloping direction, and covered with a slice of fibrous peat, upon which the plant is 
secured with a fine wire, and its roots protected with a little Hypnum moss. 
Eri'ca transpa^rens, var. bla'nda. The principal point of distinction betwixt this variety 
and the original species, is in the colour of the flowers. Instead of a purple hue, the corolla is 
of a bright rosy carmine tint at the bottom of the tube, gradually dying away towards the top, 
and with the small and scarcely expanding segments tinged with green. They have the same 
semi-transparency of texture which has suggested the trivial name of the primitive species. It 
is one of the best of Cape Heaths for a limited collection, and may be had of Messrs. Henderson, 
in whose nursery a fine plant is now blooming. 
OPERATIONS FOR FEBRUARY. 
As this month advances, a vast number of operations require to be attended to in the 
pleasure-ground department ; and it is a good maxim to defer nothing to a later period that can 
be as well performed before the beginning of March, for by that time the full-tide of spring work 
will have fairly set in, and what is now neglected will be in danger of being superficially executed, 
or entirely passed over. All those borders which require pointing over, and the planting 
and pruning of hardy shrubs, not yet done, may now be proceeded with. 
The principal part of the pruning needed by hardy shrubs consists of cutting away dead 
branches, thinning out spray wood, and shortening back any shoots that have acquired an undue 
ascendancy over the rest, and the tops of those which, from being insufficiently ripened, have 
been damaged by frost. All those numerous suckers which are yearly protruded from the roots 
of such plants as Lilacs, Spirseas, Symphorias, and Loniceras, should be rooted out and cut off 
as near the main plant as possible ; and this should not be performed in the ordinary slovenly 
manner with a spade, which injures the roots of the parent, and thereby engenders the produc- 
tion of a still more numerous progeny in the ensuing season, but a strong three-pronged fork 
should be employed, to loosen them, and then they may be detached with a small pruning-hook. 
Some of the strongest and best formed of these may be useful where new plantations are forming, 
or old ones require filling up ; or they may be reserved in the nursery ground for a future 
occasion. Climbing plants generally require a more severe application of the knife than stiff- 
growing shrubs, and for many kinds close spur-pruning will be most appropriate. Roses may 
now be pruned, with the exception of the Tea, Chinas, and some of the more tender kinds, which 
will be better deferred till the end of March or beginning of April, and in cold, bleak districts, to 
a still later period. In all pruning, special observance should be paid to neatness. Always cut 
near a bud, for whatever remains beyond is certain to die, and has ever an unsightly appearance. 
Long, sloping and ragged cuts, too, should be as carefully avoided. Whatever pruning or 
planting is required amongst shrubs, should always be performed before the soil is stirred ; and 
for the latter work, a light fork is preferable to a spade. 
Throughout the present month a principal aim of the culturist should be directed towards 
repressing the daily increasing signs of renewed activity, which are exhibited not only by plants 
in the greenhouses and frames, but also in mild weather by those in the open ground. The 
difficulty of accomplishing this object increases as the season advances. And here we may give 
a word of caution on the necessity of uniformity in the treatment of any particular plant at this 
