240 
OPERATIONS FOR NOVEMBER. 
The extreme dulness of the late summer and autumn having, to some extent, incapacitated 
tender plants for hearing a gloomy winter, it is more than usually essential that the cultivator 
should do all in his power to guard against the ordinary dampness of November ; especially with 
those plants that have newly-formed shoots, such as the half-hardy things lately multiplied, and 
the tribes whose branches or leaves are at all disposed to be succulent. Mildew, in its various 
forms, will, as an almost necessary consequence of the wet weather, be beginning to appear on 
many descriptions of plants ; and the parts thus affected must be immediately cut away, or, where 
this is impracticable, the spots should be carefully rubbed or brushed away. The house or pit, 
too, in which such indications appear, should be aired as much as possible whenever even an hour's 
dryness in the outer atmosphere occurs, and a little fire heat must be cautiously applied in the 
event of such opportunities not arising. 
But, as we have often before enjoined, precautionary measures which prevent the accumulation 
of dampness are of more value than any remedy which can be applied when the evil already exists. 
The utmost attention must, therefore, be given to see that the glazing of the roof is perfectly 
water-tight, that there are no dead leaves or other materials lying about the house, or under the 
stages, so as to collect or create moisture, and that the plants get only just water enough to 
supply their necessities, without leaving them the chance of becoming injured by excess. It will 
be of great service also to remove all decaying matter about the plants, and keep dying leaves 
plucked away, directly these begin to appear. 
Light and air must now be the first points for consideration in plant-houses. They should be 
furnished with the fullest possible copiousness, when the state of the atmosphere without admits. 
Fires should by no means be lighted unless they become actually necessary ; repose being now 
chiefly to be sought, and heat only being of use to preserve a due amount of dryness, or to arrest 
frost. Chrysanthemums, Chinese Primroses, and all those flowering plants which demand a good 
quantity of water at the present time, had better be kept in a house by themselves, where there 
is convenience for it. 
As this is the great month for planting bulbs, the operation should be at once attended to. It 
should be borne in mind that most kinds of bulbs require an enriched soil, and that either leaf- 
mould or decayed and well-pulverised manure is an excellent ingredient for their compost. This is 
particularly the case with Hyacinths, which, when planted in a tolerably rich soil, make a splendid 
bed for the flower-garden. Gladioluses also flourish far better when they are planted in a bed or 
border of nicely prepared compost ; and Lilies will not succeed except in an enriched earth. In 
speaking of planting bulbs and corms, out of doors, we may mention also that Crocuses, 
Snowdrops, the dwarfer kinds of Narcissus, and many other things of this class, which are con- 
sidered almost too common for such purposes, make beautiful masses in the flower-garden during 
the early spring, if planted in beds. 
November is likewise the best month for beginning to plant forest-trees, shrubs, &c, and 
particularly those which are larger than the common-sized nursery plants : for, by planting them 
now, they are enabled to get a fair hold of the soil before spring, and are thus better prepared to 
begin their young growths vigorously and at the proper time. In planting, one of the principal 
things is to preserve and spread out carefully all the roots, and not to tread them into the ground 
until after they have been well covered with soil ; nor, even then, to trample about them beyond 
what is absolutely needful to fix them properly in their places. A very considerable retardment 
of the plant's progress results from inattention to these trifling circumstances. And no plant can 
reasonably be expected to flourish which has its roots much mutilated, or cramped into a kind of 
impervious cell by treading. 
