240 
OPERATIONS FOR NOVEMBER. 
Little or no water being thus wanted, the application of heat, beyond what is necessary to 
guard the plants from frost, must be improper and prejudicial. If plants are not growing, and are 
not wished to grow, and if by consequence they are watered very scantily, artificial heat must bring 
on evaporation and dryness to an injurious degree, and, at the same time, incite them to begin 
growing. It may have become a trite observation with us, but we must ever continue to insist 
that if plants are less watered in winter, they will remain more inactive, and be less liable to be 
frozen, while if frost is just prevented from affecting them, they will grow and blossom much 
finer and better than they would if stimulated in winter. 
Damp weather without, which is almost inevitable in November, will render it somewhat 
difficult to keep the atmosphere of greenhouses and frames sufficiently dry. The least moisture 
in the external air should be enough to deter the cultivator from opening any of his houses, 
though the temperature may be naturally high. And whenever the slightest tendency to decay 
or mouldiness is observed in any plant, it should be duly checked, and its causes avoided. All 
dead or rotten leaves should be discarded as a pestilence, and never suffered to remain either on 
the plants or in their neighbourhood. 
Where bark is employed to produce bottom-heat in stoves and orchidaceous houses, it should, 
If possible, be taken away during winter, as it must necessarily tend to keep the atmosphere 
moist. If it cannot be removed conveniently, care should be taken that it become old and 
powerless at this season, for nothing could be more harmful than such a stimulus as fermenting 
bark. During such weather as will not permit the progress of out-door operations, it will be 
desirable to have every description of stove plants freed from insects, and their leaves cleanly 
sponged ; not that they should ever be allowed to get dirty, but because it is prudent, when there 
is time enough to spare, to clean them thoroughly late in the autumn, the leaves being then less 
tender and susceptible of injury than at any other period. 
All those climbers, whether in the greenhouse or stove, that require an annual pruning in 
the winter, should now be attended to. After they have been pruned, those which are not 
evergreen may have their branches collected into a bundle, and fastened under the rafters. They 
will then obstruct the light less, and light is of the greatest importance in winter. Of course 
when the spring arrives, and there is the least sign of motion in their buds, they must be spread 
out again in their proper places. 
Cape bulbs. Hyacinths, Narcissuses, &c., that have not yet been potted, should be forth v.'ith 
planted. Hyacinths and their allies ought always to be plunged in bark or some very light soil 
before they are placed in the forcing-house or in glasses. They thus commence growing more 
favourably than when the bulbs are exposed ; and the slight blanching which their leaves receive 
is speedily recovered. They need not be plunged deeper than two or three inches below the 
surface, and should be removed as soon as they have fairly started, that they may not be sub- 
jected to frost. 
In the open ground, this is the season for eff'ecting alterations, or for planting. All ground 
work that involves planting should be done immediately, for it is desirable that the trees or 
shrubs should have time to settle and establish themselves ere severe frosts set in. No specimen 
ought to be pruned at the time of planting, as it is imprudent to impose an additional tax on its 
energies while it has so many to contend with. We mean that it should be allowed time 
to recover from the wounds its roots necessarily receive before its branches are wounded 
likewise. 
Beds that have been filled with summer flowers being now vacant, may be turned up, or have 
their soil renewed ; and some of them can be planted with bulbs for spring flowering. Hyacinths, 
if grown in beds, would make an admirable display in spring, and are by no means duly valued 
as an out-door ornament. A considerable proportion of sand and cow-dung should be put in the 
soil prepared for their reception. 
Ornamental climbers can now be pruned and dressed. Some kinds, such as Tecomas, will 
bloom much more finely without any pruning ; unless it be their really superfluous shoots. The 
species of Clematis and the jasmine, may, on the other hand, be rather closely pruned with ad- 
vantage. Both for appearance and convenience, trellises are preferable to plain walls for sup- 
porting climbers. 
