838 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
Plants in Pits and Cellars. 
A correspondent wishes to know what he can 
do with his many choice plants, in Winter. He 
invested largely, last Spring, in bedding plants, 
tea roses, etc., and does not wish now to lose 
them in the Winter ; yet he has no green-house, 
or frame covered pit to preserve them in. 
We should, of course, recommend the trouble 
of making a cold pit. Dig a pit eighteen inch¬ 
es or two feet deep, in a dry part of the garden, 
wall it up with brick or stone, or planks. Set 
over it a frame like the common liot-bed frame, 
shown in the figure below, and the work is done. 
Lay a few bricks on the bottom and put over 
them a board or two as a sort of staging, to keep 
the plants from excessive moisture. Here, nearly 
all kinds of half-hardy plants will pass the 
Winter safely. 
But if any one can not afford the time or the 
money for making such a pit, the next best thing 
is a good cellar. If the only object is to preserve 
the plants in a dormant state until Spring, a cel¬ 
lar is better than a green-liouse. And these are 
among the plants which will do well in such 
quarters : Roses, Pittosporiuns, Fuchsias, Bou- 
vardias, Geraniums, Oleanders, Oranges, Myr¬ 
tles, Bays, Pomegranates, Aloes, Hydrangeas, 
Irish Yews, and many more of the liard-wooded 
plants. Keep the cellar as cool as possible with¬ 
out its freezing. These plants will want an oc¬ 
casional watering, to keep them from wilting. 
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Winter Protection of Plants. 
This is the month in which to attend to the 
wants of all tender shrubs and plants. There 
are many things in our gardens, which, if they 
were as well provided for in Winter as the wild 
plants of the woods—overhung by trees and 
covered with leaves—would need no further 
care; but when in the open ground, exposed to 
wind and frost and sunshine alternately, they 
will fare hard if not protected by artificial 
means. North of this city, many shrubs and 
nearly all herbaceous plants are benefited by a 
slight covering. “ Slight,” we say, for harm is 
sometimes done by too thick a blanket. 
For plants, many persons use long manure, 
putting a fork-full or two about each crown. 
This is very good, but for most things, a peck of 
forest leaves is the best protection. These shed 
the rain like a roof, and keep the roots warm 
enough without heating them. They will per¬ 
haps need fastening to the ground by a few 
sticks or stones, to prevent their being blown 
away. Carnations, picotees, daisies, Japan lil¬ 
ies, pyretlirums, snap-dragons and other half- 
hardy plants winter quite well, in this way. 
Tender shrubs may be protected easily. Make 
a small mound of old manure or of leaves around 
t]ie roots, then bend down the branches care¬ 
fully to the ground, and fasten them there by 
short stakes. Now, lay over them a few inches 
ofleaves or any loose litter, and then an inch or 
two of soil. All that they require is a light and 
porous covering to protect them from sudden 
changes of temperature, Of course, it is not ex¬ 
pected to exclude frost entirely, for that will 
penetrate two or three feet in depth. 
The above is all the covering that hybrid 
perpetual roses need, and such shrubs as For- 
sytkia viridissima, Reeve’s spirea, and others of 
like habit. But some tender shrubs have such 
stiff branches that they can not easily be bent 
to the ground. These must have their boughs 
gathered up in a bundle, and then surrounded 
by a thin sheathing of straw, or old matting 
fastened in place by stout cords. If evergreen 
boughs are neatly tied around shrubs, the ap¬ 
pearance is much better than that of straw or 
mats. And for front lawns we recommend this 
mode : at a little distance, the effect is the same 
as that of handsomely trained evergreen bushes. 
Such tender roses as the Chinas, Bourbons, 
Noisettes and Teas, hybernate best if put into 
a cool pit, covered with a window-frame. But 
if the soil be well drained, they will sometimes 
(with the exception of the Tea roses,) go 
through the Winter safely out of doors. If this 
is tried’ they should not only be covered with 
leaves and soil, but should have a little roof of 
boards, shaped like an inverted cave-trough, to 
shed excess of rain from them. Still, with the 
best of care, many will die, and others will come 
out in the Spring a good deal scorched. Last 
Winter, we kept part of our tenderest roses by 
potting them in large pots in November, keep¬ 
ing them in a carriage-house chamber until De¬ 
cember, then taking them into a light cellar, 
where they remained until Spring; then they 
were re-planted in the garden. Souvenir de la 
Malmaison (Bourbon,) Taglioni and Bougen 
(Teas,) and Agrippina (China,) wintered well, 
and floAvered abundantly in the open ground 
throughout the past Summer. Agaip, we took 
up several China roses in November, laid them 
flat on the ground, covered them with the dry 
tops of phloxes and a few leaves, and finally a 
few inches of soil; and these wintered better 
than others of the same kind left standing in the 
ground and protected in the usual manner. 
We relate these experiments for what they are 
worth; they may benefit inexperienced ama¬ 
teurs. Is it too much to believe that the time 
will come when w'e shall be able to Winter 
many of the tenderest plants out of doors? 
That will be a good time when it comes, 
What of the Spergula Pilifera? 
Considerable attention has been attracted to 
this plant during the past two seasons, especial¬ 
ly in England, where it has been extensively 
advertised as a substitute for lawn grass. It was 
described as a perennial of lowgroivth, forming 
a thick, velvety mat of the finest green, and 
which needed no mowing—the very neplus ultra, 
for flic lawn. Doubts were entertained of its 
success in this climate, as our Summer drouths 
it was supposed, would kill it. But it seems not 
to have realized the promises of the advertisers 
even in England, whose moist climate was sup¬ 
posed to be particularly congenial to its growth. 
A writer in the London Gardeners’ Chronicle, 
thus relates his experience. 
“ I sowed several pans of seed in a cold frame 
and carefully transplanted to a good garden soil; 
but in spite of constant attention in the way of 
watering and shading, they made very poor pro¬ 
gress. Other seed which I placed under the 
protection of a hand-glass also grew up and 
formed a perfect web, of which I entertained 
great hopes. I cut it (early in August) into 
small tufts and planted them upon a terrace 
where they had a depth of good soil, Their 
progress was slow but satisfactory until the ap¬ 
proach of Winter gave then} a sear and yellow 
aspect, and they did not improve when more 
genial weather arrived, but began to produce 
myriads of insignificant white blossoms. Now 
if the plant is liable to an annual recurrence of 
these flowers, I say that a grass lawn smothered 
with daisies, is, for the time being, equally effec¬ 
tive and ornamental.” 
This is contrary to the accounts given of it 
by some other English cultivators, but what 
says II. W. Sargent Esq., of our own country, 
who has now both “ Summered and Wintered ” 
it at Wodenethe? 
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Cultivation of the Hyacinth. 
IN THE HOUSE, IN GLASSES ALT} IN POTS—AND 
IN BEDS. 
Few flowers are more deservedly popular than 
hyacinths. They are easily cultivated in the 
garden ,or in the house; they exhibit a most, attract¬ 
ive bloom, and are deliciously fragrant. There 
is perhaps no finer ornament for a windpw than 
a collection of these bulbs flowering in glasses. 
The following directions for their care from an 
English catalogue, are timely and valuable. 
11 In glasses .—Nearly all hyacinths are suitable, 
more or less, for cultivating in glasses, though, 
in making a selection for that purpose, a larger 
number of single varieties should be chosen, as 
the certainty of success is mupk greater witlf 
them than with the double kinds. In ordering, 
special care should therefore be taken to state 
for what purposes the bulbs may be required, 
that proper varieties may be selected. It is the 
natural tendency of all roots tq grow down¬ 
ward, avoiding the light—consequently dark 
colored glasses are preferable for the growth of 
hyacinths. Let the bulbs be obtained as early 
as possible after their importation, though the 
time of putting them to the water rqay range 
from the middle of September to the end of 
November; the earlier however, the better. Fill 
the glasses with soft clean water till it barely 
touches the bottom of the bulb. Then stand 
them in a dark cool cupboard or cellar for at 
least a month, to encourage the roots to form 
plentifully before the bio pin buds appear. Ex¬ 
amine them occasionally while in the dark, and 
carefully remove any part that may be decay¬ 
ing, at the same time not injuring the young 
roots. Should the waiter become foul, change it, 
but not otherwise. W!lPh the buds and leaves 
have made a little growl h, they should be 
brought into the full light of a window; if in a 
room where a fire is kept, let them stand in the 
window furthest from thp fire; a cool place is 
best for them. Never under any circumstances 
allow them to stand qn the mantel piece, a prac¬ 
tice often followed, but highly improper. As 
the flow r er head rises, a support should be ap¬ 
plied. When coming into flower, a little stim¬ 
ulant may be added tq the water with advan¬ 
tage. Sulphate of ammonia will be found 1o 
add considerably to the intensity of color in the 
flower, and also to the vigor of the plant—a 
small pinch between the thumb and finger just 
dropped into the water will be sufficient. 
In Pots .—The soil used, should be rich, and 
not over light; good loam and leaf mold, with 
about one fourth of well rotted manure, and a 
liberal addition of sea, river, or silver sand, 
would be a good compost. For one bulb, pots 
5 inches in diameter at the top should be used; 
three or five bulbs may be planted in one large 
pot or pan together with good effect. Let the 
pots be well drained, and the soil and bulb 
