240 
OPERATIONS FOR NOVEMBER. 
formed of waste strips of wood, and nailed roughly together, with two or three 
cross pieces to preserve its form, will, if filled up with long straw, fastened here 
and there to the outside, and to the cross bars, by tar-twine, do more to shelter a 
house or frame than any ordinary amount of fire-heat ; and what is better, the 
plants will not be enfeebled thereby, as they would be by being placed in a tempe- 
rature obtained by a fire apparatus. The covering must, however, be raised on bars 
of wood, attached to the roof so as to stand an inch above the glass, stopping up the 
openings which may be left round the edges with loose hay or straw. If in a dry 
state, deciduous plants, and others that are not particularly succulent, may be thus 
covered for weeks without detriment, but they must always be opened and exposed 
to the air, when it is neither wet nor frosty. 
Tender shrubs that will not endure our winters will most likely have to be 
protected this month. Where old tarpawling can be procured, or where thick 
canvas can be tarred with facility so as to dry through before it is wanted, it will 
be preferable to matting for wrapping round delicate plants. Stakes should be 
placed to support it in such a manner that it nowhere touches the plant it is 
designed to protect ; and it will then act as a preservative from both wet and cold, 
the former of these being often more dangerous than the first, and always heighten- 
ing its effects. The same material will be further serviceable in covering frames or 
skeleton pits that have no glazed lights to exclude the rain. 
Greenhouses, though they are not to be opened in wet or foggy weather, should 
be liberally ventilated whenever there is a gentle drying wind, which will be of 
more use than the application of fires in expelling moisture. Should the atmosphere 
become very damp, however, an occasional employment of the fires will be indis- 
pensable. In dry frosty weather, when the air in the middle of the day rises 
above freezing point, let the greenhouse be ventilated till the temperature again 
falls ; for a circulation of dry air, when it does not absolutely freeze, is of immense 
benefit. Many Heaths, and plants of similar habits, will bear two or three degrees 
of frost with impunity, if the sun is not allowed to shine upon them ere they have 
thawed. 
Keep the stove and Orchidaceous house at a low rather than a very high tempe- 
rature, reserving a pit with a more genial atmosphere for the growing kinds. 
Where forcing is begun, the plants may be started with a heat of 50°, which can 
be gradually raised as the growth advances. Introduce fresh plants to the forcing- 
house for succession, and keep a supply in a cold pit to be moved to a higher 
temperature as they may be required. Plant bulbs in the flower-beds or borders, 
and pot such as have not yet been attended to. Manure and dig over the beds that 
have been divested of half-hardy plants. Still sow a few annual seeds in pots, and 
attend carefully, as to potting and watering, to the young plants raised from 
previous sowings. Be prepared, both in the houses and the open ground, for the 
occurrence of frost in the early part of the morning, which is sometimes now 
experienced when there is not the least sign of it at night. 
