264 
OPERATIONS FOR DECEMBER. 
them from mouldiness and decomposition. With deciduous and hard-wooded 
species, it is not of so much importance. 
In the case of the young plants that are usually struck in the autumn, and kept 
in frames, where either artificial heat cannot be applied, or its application would 
be detrimental ; and likewise of those half-hardy specimens that have been taken 
from the open ground ; a too close arrangement is particularly to be avoided. The 
generally immature state of their new shoots, the circumstance of their having 
been fresh potted, and their roots not filling the soil, (thereby affording a greater 
chance for the accumulation of water,) and the exhalations from the damp surface 
on which they are nearly always placed, all contribute to enforce a more distant 
disposition than is commonly effected. 
We have lately seen a method of elevating frames on posts, which, though 
adopted for the purpose of furnishing dung-heat from beneath, is, we conceive, 
admirably fitted for general use in the preservation of tender plants. The four 
corners are raised on four posts of equal length, about two feet above the level of 
the ground, and two other props are also added, one at the front, and the other at 
the back of the frame, near the middle. A small strong ledge is made round the 
inner base of the frame, which rests on all the posts, and supports some slabs of 
elate or thin stone, long enough to extend across the whole of the bottom, and of 
any width at which it may be convenient to obtain them. These slabs can be 
pierced with any required number of small holes, so as to carry off all the water 
that drains from the pots, which latter are either placed flatly on the surface of the 
stone, or, if considered desirable, slightly raised on three small pieces of tile, placed 
at equal distances round their edges. 
The advantages of this practice must strike persons of the dullest apprehension. 
Every possibility of the bottoms of the pots becoming clogged, and drainage 
impeded ; of worms obtaining admission to the soil ; of moisture stagnating below 
the plant ; in short, of the operation of any of the ills which inevitably attend the 
use of soil, or even coal-ashes, for placing the pots upon, would be completely 
removed. The expense of slate for such an object, or of stone in those parts of 
the country where it abounds, would ultimately be exceedingly trifling, as it is not, 
like the frames, subject to any sensible decay, but would last for an indefinite 
period. Respecting the height to which the frame should be lifted, it is by no 
means necessary that it be more than one foot, and a quantity of dry litter may 
be placed beneath it in severe weather. 
We cannot withhold the suggestion, that where brick pits are constructed for 
protecting half-hardy or any other ornamental kinds of plants, a small chamber 
should be left under the centre, throughout their whole extent, over which a 
similar pavement to that above noticed could be laid to support the plants intended 
to be grown in it. The foundation of the pit would not thus be endangered, 
while the same good results as are experienced in the elevated frames, would be 
ensured. 
