THE CREEK-HOUSE. 
539 
removal, preservation of the roots, reducing 
the heads, &c. 
Planting Flowering Shrubs gene- 
rally may be regarded as a thing postponed ; 
for, if there be no frosts, and not too much 
wet, they will not be materially worse, though 
too much cannot be said in favour of doing 
everything as soon as it can be done, for there 
is no calculating on seasons. 
Read the whole twelve months' 
directions, and make notesof duties neglected, 
so that such tilings as may yet be remedied, 
be attended to forthwith ; and that it may be 
the better impressed on the memory for 
future years, if neglected now. Many 
operations, though directed for particular 
months, may nevertheless be done at many 
different periods 
STOVE AND ORCHIDEOUS HOUSE. 
The attention required here is so like that 
for the last month, that we ought to repeat 
the directions, or to refer to them ; but as the 
stove is used for forcing, and many persons 
begin this month only, it may be well to say 
that all potted plants for forcing should be re- 
moved into the coolest part first, and then be 
removed to the warmest. Almost every flower 
in cultivation may be forced, but there are 
few who take sufficient pains. With Roses, 
the same identical plants ought to be forced 
year after year; for the earlier they are brought 
forward one year, the more easily are they 
brought forward the next. Roses will not 
force well the first season ; they may give a few 
blooms, and do well enough for a London 
market, but as objects of interest they are 
nothing. All that can be done is to get strong 
plants, well established in pots, and with wood 
well ripened, to bring them info the green- 
house first, then to the coolest part of the 
stove; and here keep them clear of the green- 
fly, which is almost a certain visitor at some 
period of its growth. In such case, nothing 
but fumigation with tobacco smoke, and syring- 
ing with plain water afterwards, will effectually 
clean them. All the plants now forcing want 
a good supply of water, and especially those 
that have begun to progress towards flowering ; 
for the heat soon exhausts the moisture, to say 
nothing of the more than ordinary supply that 
a plant swelling for bloom requires. Stove 
and orchideous plants must be treated in eveiy 
respect as last month. Seedlings that are out- 
growing their small pots, or seed pans, may be 
transferred to proper sized pots. 
TITS AND FRAMES. 
These structures are to be managed precisely 
the same as the respective houses for which 
they are substitutes. The cold-pits, which 
answer the purposes of the green-house, are 
to be kept clean, and in all mild weather «s 
open as possible, as the plants cannot have 
too- much air. Warm pits, for stove plants, 
must be kept at the same temperature as the 
stove, and equal care be taken to keep the 
plants clean and healthy, by extirpating any 
of the usual plagues the instant they appear; 
All the plants of a hardy, or half-hardy 
description, that are in frames and cold-pits, 
must be kept from any excess of water. In all 
respects, these, as well as other houses and 
buildings, must be managed the same as last 
month. 
THE GREEN-HOUSE. 
The principal evil with which green-house 
plants have to contend in winter is the damp ; 
it is, if allowed to prevail long, more fatal 
than cold ; the next evil is the frost ; the 
last is heat. Damp will affect to destruction 
many subjects that would only be a little 
damaged by frost ; and the mischief that would 
arise from heat is great. To prevent damp, 
it is necessary, however, to light fires, even in 
mild weather ; and the best way to dry the 
house is to make fires on a fine dry day, and let 
the top glasses be pulled down a little, to allow 
the damp to evaporate. Plants in the green- 
house should not be watered too often ; they 
require only to be kept from actually drying 
up ; for very little moisture is sufficient to 
keep a plant that is not growing from dying. 
The pots should be frequently examined ; and 
if the soil appears wet, while most others are 
dryer, you will find either that it has been 
receiving the drip from some faulty light, or 
that the drainage is stopped or retarded ; in 
the former case, the pot may be laid on its 
side to dry a little ; in the latter, it must be 
changed for a new pot. The house should be 
kept as open as possible in every part in dry 
mild weathei', but if damp, it is better closed. 
It there be any likelihood of frost, let mats be 
hung up on the front glasses ; they are almost 
as good as lighting a fire, but would not do to 
trust to altogether ; still care should be taken 
not to overheat the house. When the fire is 
at its best, the heat should not be more than 
40', though we know it is one of the most 
difficult things in green-house culture to 
maintain a temperature well above a frost 
without getting it up too high ; green-house 
plants suffer from any excess of heat in winter, 
and when flris most severe out of doors, it is 
the most difficult to preserve the even tem- 
perature within. Cleanliness is of the utmost 
importance to the plants; and, above all other 
things, though least of all attended to, plenty of 
room. By crowding plants close to each other 
on the shelves, they injure one another, and it 
is impossible they can grow handsome ; or if 
handsome when put into the house, impossible 
