A OR 
PITS AND FRAMES. 
fixer!. Those ventilators should be covered 
with coarse wove wire, or perforated zinc, so 
as to break or sift the cold air, ere it enters 
the house. And as the front air would pass 
between or over the pipes, it would be warmed 
before it came in contact with any of the 
plants.* In order to make the most of the 
room, shelves can be placed at h h h. If a 
narrower house than that here indicated be 
erected, it would be advisable to do away 
with the front walk, as it would in that case 
occupy too much of the most valuable space 
in the house. A trellis over the pipes would 
hold a quantity of small pots in pans, still 
allowing plenty of room for the heat and fresh 
air to ascend. The whole of the house and 
the ground round it, should of course be well 
drained ; and where this is done, or where the 
ground admits of its being done from its na- 
tural dryness or other cause, the interior of 
tiie house may be excavated so as to have the 
pit, tank, and pipes below the level of the 
ground, and the front wall plate only a little 
raised above it. 
Previous to commencing the forcing-season, 
great care should be taken to have the house 
in the most complete repair, so as to avoid as 
far as possible any accidents when once the 
plants are introduced. To this end, the heat- 
ing apparatus, of whatever description, should 
be examined, and repaired if necessary, the 
plunging material renewed, and the house 
thoroughly repaired and white-washed, so as 
to destroy insects, and to lea^ve all sweet and 
clean. Then towards the middle of the month 
begin to fill the house with the first batch of 
Lilacs, Ribessanguineum, Deutzias, Roses, &e. 
leaving all possible air at all times, until about 
a fortnight before the fires are lighted, when 
the air should be gradually reduced. When 
the fires are once applied, then the application 
of heat, air, and moisture, must be so regu- 
lated as to prevent either from being in excess. 
If flowers are not wanted much before Christ- 
mas, then the most of these preparations may 
be delayed for another month. 
Cacti should now be placed in a perfectly 
dry green-house, where they should remain 
until they are required for forcing, receiving 
no water unless they shrivel up too much. 
Pinks. — The full stock of these and also 
of Picotees, &c , should be potted up this 
month, and plunged in frames or cradles, so as 
to be easily protected in bad weather. They 
must be carefully guarded against the ravages 
of slugs and snails. 
* Many other arrangements for warming the external 
air, before it reaches the plants, will occur. A very good 
plan, with the rati nale of the practice, is given in a 
memoir entitled " Theory and Practice applied to the 
Cultivation of the Cucumber in the Winter Season:" by 
T. Moore. London. Groombiidge. 
Violets, <yc, should be treated in a similar 
way as recommended last month, choosing the 
strongest roots, and potting as many as are 
likely to be wanted. 
Forget-me-not (Myosotis palustris) may also 
be potted up. and will do in a damper situation 
than most of the foregoing. 
Hyacinths. — These and the other Dutch 
bulbs may generally be procured by the end 
of the month. As soon as possible a quantity 
of them should be potted in small pots, using 
a soil of sandy loam, and placing the pots 
under a north or east wall, they should be 
covered with about six inches of sifted coal- 
ashes. Here they must remain until the pots 
are filled with roots, when they may be re- 
moved, as wanted, to the forcing-house. The 
smallest pots should be used as being most 
convenient for decorative purposes, as well as 
occupying the least space at all times. 
After treatment. — Inspect all the plants 
intended for forcing, regularly, allowing none 
to get out of shape, or overgrown by weeds, 
keeping them comparatively thin, especially 
the herbaceous ones. Remove or shelter the 
woody ones intended for the two or three 
early batches, so that they receive no more 
water than is sufficient to keep their buds and 
branches plump. 
PITS AND FRAMES. 
These may still be well occupied in shelter- 
ing such plants as may be intended for winter 
flowering; and, in fact, all the tenderer green- 
house species, which it has been deemed 
advisable not to hazard in full exposure to the 
wet and cold, which they would be liable to 
experience. Such plants — especially those of 
the latter class, require pretty free exposure 
during all the time the weather will permit, 
that is all day unless wet, and at night, when 
calm and warm. During wet days and cold 
nights the lights should be put on, but they 
had better be tilted up at the back to admit 
air. The plants preparing for winter flower- 
ing may be kept somewhat closer; the lights 
should be. generally on the frames, except at 
very fine intervals, and air should be given by 
tilting them at the back. 
Half hardy ■plants. — The propagation of 
a full supply of these must be carried out 
with energy, for, on the preparation made 
now, so far as materials are concerned, will 
depend much of the beauty and variety of the 
flower garden next summer. The plan of 
planting the cuttings pretty thickly in mode- 
rate sized pots should now be adopted. It is 
essential to success, that while the cuttings 
are not so far exposed to an arid atmosphere 
as to cause them to shrivel, they may not. 
be kept too damp and close, for, in the latter 
case they will decay rapidly. 
