264 
OPERATIONS FOR DECEMBER. 
employment of a great degree of heat when only a very trifling quantity is required, 
is productive of immense injury to plants, and all good cultivators most cautiously 
endeavour to shun it. 
It is of great importance that the management of the furnaces connected with 
plant-houses be intrusted to an individual who thoroughly understands the prin- 
ciples on which heat should be applied. There is nothing hyperbolical in the 
assertion, that, on the abilities of such a person to perform the ofhce intrusted to 
him, the health and beauty of the plants entirely depend. This should render 
cultivators cautious as to who they employ for such a purpose, and induce them 
strictly to inspect the management of that department. All plants should now 
be kept as near to the glass as is consistent with their safety; for, even in this, 
there is a degree of propriety to be observed, which, if exceeded, would greatly 
endanger the subjects of it. It should not be forgotten, that frost enters chiefly 
through a glazed roof, and the plants should be placed at just such a distance from 
it as will secure them from that destructive principle ; though it is better to keep 
them at a trifling distance, and protect them by covering the house with mats in 
very severe weather. 
Cold pits and frames will now be found among the most useful of plant struc- 
tures. Auriculas, Carnations, and Polyanthuses, with all tender plants that have 
been removed from the flower-garden, or are in preparation for that department for 
the ensuing season, are by this time securely housed in these or similar erections. 
They should be carefully tended for the purpose of admitting air in favourable 
weather, and duly protected with mats, hay, or dry litter, during frosts. 
The beds and borders of the flower-garden and pleasure-grounds may still be 
dug roughly over, if this operation have not previously been completed. Shrubs of 
all kinds may be pruned if necessary, and especially climbing plants, which must also 
be nailed to the wall, or fastened to the trellis against which they may be growing, 
at the same time. Collect the seed of Rhododendrons, if it is wished to be saved, 
and sow it in the early part of the succeeding spring in a slight hot-bed. Make, 
and plant, cuttings of any species of Ribes, or other similar plants ; those shoots 
which are slipped (not cut) off, succeed best, and a sheltered situation, with a 
light loamy soil, is most suitable. All the buds, except those at the base and the 
two uppermost ones, should be extracted, as, if left, they would only weaken the 
young plant ; and, in inserting them into the ground, care should be taken to 
place the earth close around them, that no cavities may be left in which water can 
collect. Beds of Tulips and other bulbs, should be covered, when necessary, with 
a little dry litter, and all insects that would injure or destroy the bulbs should be 
carefully looked after. Remove any trees or shrubs which require shifting, or 
that may be desired in any other part of the garden. Always take them up with 
as much earth as possible about their roots, and be careful to preserve the fibrous 
roots entire. Examine Dahlia roots occasionally, and adopt gentle measures for 
the expulsion of damp from the apartment in which they are kept, if it shall be 
found to have entered. 
