274 
OPERATIONS FOR JANUARY. 
From the warmth and length of the late summer, and the tardiness with which winter has 
approached, it seems rational to expect a considerable continuance of severe weather, when it 
does arrive ; and though this anticipation may possibly be disappointed, it will be in the highest 
degree politic to provide for the strongest contingencies. 
Our notion that a sharp winter is likely to follow so very favourable a season is based on tho 
view, which men of science appear generally to have adopted, that there is a kind of reciprocity 
between coldness and heat, and the duration of both ; or, to be more plain, that a long hot sum- 
mer, or a succession of them, will be followed by one or a series of comparatively severe winters, 
and the converse. We caution the cultivator, therefore, against assuming that the immunity 
from cold we have already experienced, is likely to be perpetuated ; for, on the contrary, philo- 
sophy tells us that it will probably lead to unusual rigour. 
' This suggestion is but the prelude to a recommendation to prepare adequate means of cover- 
ing in case of sudden severity occurring, and also (which is even more important) to keep the 
plants needing protection in such a quiet or unexcited state, that they may be secluded from the 
light for any requisite period without sustaining serious injury. 
For covering pits, frames, or houses, nothing is so effectual (unless solid materials, such as 
asphalte, be employed) as straw hurdles, which can easily be made in wet weather. And if the 
frame-work be thick enough just to lift them above the glass, they will keep out almost any 
degree of frost, without fire. For plants standing in the open ground, again, garden-mats will 
usually afford the simplest and cheapest protection. They should be kept at some distance from 
the plant ; and a thick layer of dry hay, or some such material, should be placed over the roots, 
and around the lower part of the stem. Shelter there is of more consequence than is generally 
conceived, as it maintains the specimen in a drier condition, and prevents it from absorbing that 
unnecessary moisture which always forms a sort of nucleus for the attacks of frost. It, more- 
over, often keeps the plant from dying below the upper branches ; and there are some kinds of 
exotics which will sprout up afresh each spring, if the roots be preserved in safety, though the 
whole of their shoots be destroyed. The protection must, however, in all cases, embrace the 
lower part of the stem, where it joins the roots; for, if this be killed, the roots themselves will 
never survive. 
As regards the retention of plants in a torpid condition, the observation we have made con- 
cerns those which are grown in any protective structure, and also those which are sheltered in a 
detached manner. With the former, it is necessary to be most particular ; and the caution 
embraces the administration of water, the repressal of undue dampness, and the admission of 
air whenever it can be accomplished without danger. As to the application of water, it is now 
little needed, save in small and infrequent quantities ; and the more it can be dispensed with, so 
that the plants do not suffer from want, the safer and healthier will they be preserved. Damp- 
ness in houses may be removed by an occasional introduction of fire-heat ; and in frames, by 
sedulously avoiding its causes. 
With respect to specimen exotics that grow in the open ground, and yet require covering in 
sharp weather, they can best be preserved in a torpid state by refraining to shelter them, more 
than very partially, till frost actually arrives. Where the protection is of such a nature that it 
must be kept on permanently, there should be the most perfect provision for supplying them 
with a current of air, and as much light as possible. Commonly, the last agent is the most 
thought of : and an opening only is made on the side where the sun shines. If an aperture, 
however, be furnished on opposite sides, so as to have a free circulation of air through the whole, 
the health of the plant will be greatly improved. 
