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CHAPTER XII. 
CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS. 
January . 
January may be called the digging month, 
as almost the only gardening operation that 
can be performed in it is diggings or rather 
trenching the ground; and even this cannot 
be done unless the weather be open and the 
ground free from frost. Nothing can be 
imagined more desolate than the appearance 
of the flower-garden in this month. Per¬ 
haps the Christmas rose may be in flower, 
and a few lingering blossoms may remain on 
the Pyrus or Cydonia japonica; but this is 
generally all, except a few red berries that 
the birds may have left on the holly or the 
pyracantha. January, however, is an excel¬ 
lent month for the destruction of snails and 
