24 
OPERATIONS FOR FEBRUARY. 
whether evergreen or deciduous, that are not likely to commence growing in winter. 
Their adoption should, nevertheless, be limited to extreme cases, when the frost is 
either very intense or durable. Mats or straw hurdles being more easily prepared, 
and less expensive, should have the preference for ordinary purposes, and cannot 
with propriety be dispensed with where economy or the superior health of the plants 
is sought. When the rafters of the house project beyond the level of the glass, 
straw hurdles formed of a slight frame- work of wood, with the straw laid between 
it flatly and longitudinally, and made to pass alternately on each side of small cross 
bars, to which it can be secured, might be drawn up by pulleys, fixed on the out- 
side at the top of the house, and would thus almost supersede the use of fire. In 
some way or other, an outer screen appears to us to be indispensable. 
When the weather will permit, the chief aim of the culturist should be to throw 
open his greenhouses and frames as much as practicable, in order to repress any 
tendency to begin growing too soon that may have been excited by confinement, or the 
application of fire-heat. This is one of the great evils of all greenhouse cultivation. 
And in long winters like the present, it is, of course, seriously aggravated. Heat 
of any sort, applied to exotic plants, naturally stimulates them to development ; 
and if partial darkness accompany it, their development is always weak and 
imperfect. With greenhouse species, and those half-hardy plants that are in 
reserve for the flower-garden, any such precocious growth leaves a feebleness 
throughout the entire season, and their flowers are never so fine. Therefore, 
as the sole method of counteracting it, air should now be admitted liberally 
at all times when it is not freezing, or excessively damp. 
The severity of the winter gives an unprecedented opportunity for examining 
the merits of the different systems of heating ; which, we trust, will be universally 
seized. It is, without question, of the utmost moment to determine by what 
method the greatest surface of glass and volume of air can be heated to a given 
degree, in the least time, with the smallest consumption of the cheapest fuel ; and if 
practical men will make known the results of their experience in the present 
winter, ever taking into account the influence of peculiar localities and circum- 
stances, we anticipate that great good will be effected. Facts, rather than opinions, 
should constitute the subject of such communications, which may be sent to any 
suitable or favourite periodical. For ourselves, we shall gladly profit by any 
information on this topic. 
Tender annuals may be sown towards the end of the month, in either frames, 
pots, or beds covered with mats or canvas. Dahlias, too, can be started for pro- 
pagation. In neither instance should much heat be applied, but a gradual and 
vigorous growth induced. 
The out-door operations for the month are pruning, layering Roses, &c., removing 
superfluous suckers from about the roots of flowering shrubs, digging over the borders 
that have not before been turned, preparing beds for summer flowers, exposing all 
covered plants on fine days, propagating hardy trees and shrubs, and numerous 
other matters which are too minute or too well known to be individually noticed. 
