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GARDEN HINTS FOR AMATEURS. 
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allowed to grow up year after year until they become a tangled mass, it requires great judgment and 
considerable labour to make them assume a satisfactory appearance. An example of neglected thin- 
ning we have now before us, where it has become indispensably necessary to take down three-fourths 
of the trees, or in a few years they would completely smother the under-shrubs. The covenants in 
leasehold places, as to trees, are generally of the most absurd description, and in this instance, though 
it is doing positive good to the premises, the proprietor, if he liked to enforce it, could recover a 
penalty of £50 for every tree cut down. In this case, the lessee is only allowed to cut down " dead or 
worn-out " fruit-trees, and then he is to re-plant with trees of the same kind (superior varieties, of 
course, would not do !) and to nurse them until they are thoroughly established. In such cases the 
laic's requirements are almost as bad as its " delays," and fortunate is the man who has nothing to do 
with either. 
The Greenhouse plants are, or should be, in statu quo, for the less they grow in this dark month 
the better. Any, however, which require training must be looked to before the end of the year, for 
January will bring its work, which must be attended to. If you are obliged to use fire heat, take care 
that the plants are properly attended to with water, for if the pots get dry at the bottom, where the 
most active roots are generally situated, the plants will soon tell tales. Examine the Pelargoniums, 
and remove decaying leaves, more especially upon the Fancies, or decay will soon be communicated to 
the branch, and then it, as well as the leaf, will perish. You cannot be too particular in this among 
soft-wooded plants. Remove decaying leaves directly they are perceived, and keep every part of the 
plants as clean as possible. Florists' Flowers this month will merely require protection, as it is pre- 
sumed they are potted, and in their winter quarters. Auriculas, Carnations, and Heartsease will 
suffer more from undue moisture at this season than from drought; but endeavour to observe the happy 
medium, and give abundance of air at every favourable opportunity. Proceed with pruning in the 
fruit and kitchen garden, and continue to manure and trench ground where vacant. On dry frosty 
mornings, ground that has been ridged up some time may be broken up with a strong fork or pick, so 
as to expose as much of the soil to the weather as possible. Protect growing crops of the more tender 
kinds, and early Peas or Beans, just breaking through the ground, will be benefited by having some 
dry soil or ashes thrown among them. In bad weather Pea-sticks may be pointed, and many other 
things done that will forward the work in the spring. — P. 
JANUARY. 
With the new year the busy season of the gardener's troubles commences; for as the days begin to 
lengthen plants of all kinds, both in-doors and in the open air, will begin to move, and most of them 
may be forced on a little with advantage, for you can never do wrong in exciting the growing principle 
when lengthening days are in your favour. Now you may apply, by raising the temperature gradually, 
a little extra stimulus to your Pelargoniums ; and as soon as they begin to grow freely, move the 
second lot into their blooming pots. Young stock for early blooming must also be potted, and a few of 
the early forcing kinds which are showing bloom may be introduced into a little additional heat. 
Cinerarias, for late blooming in May, must be kept in cold frames or pits, taking care to guard them 
properly from damp and frosty weather. Pot successional plants, and some of the early blooming 
kinds may be forced veiy gently into bloom. Hard- wooded greenhouse plants will also begin to move ; 
therefore assist them a little, and take special care that they are not suffering for want of moisture at 
the roots ; for after severe frosts, when fires are obliged to be used, the plants are liable to get dry from 
evaporation by the sides of the pots, when the surface at the same time may appear sufficiently moist. 
Camellias are now advancing rapidly, therefore give them an occasional dose of manure water, and 
syringe the plants twice or thrice a week with clean tepid water until the flowers begin to expand. 
If alterations in the Pleasure and Flower Garden have not been completed, proceed with them as 
fast as possible, so as to get your work forward and the garden neat before the flowers of spring begin 
to make it attractive. At the end of the month walks may be edged, cleaned, and gravelled if neces- 
sary, and the grass must be kept regularly rolled, and quite clean. Of course, all the leaves and other 
rubbish have been cleared from the borders, and now the commoner shrubs and roses may be pruned, 
and afterwards the borders must be properly cleaned off for the season. The subject of pruning shrub- 
bery plants so as to get each into appropriate form, has never been properly handled ; they are allowed 
after first planting to grow into a confused mass, and hence it is almost impossible to get them into 
proper form afterwards without very severe cutting. The gardenesque style of planting and managing 
shrubs has hardly received a practical exemplification at present, but if it was once properly carried 
out, so that each plant and tree could assume its proper form, no doubt it would be much approved, at 
least by persons of taste, who admire plants for their own sakes, and not as mere screens from 
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