COTTAGE ECONOMY. 
399 
winter. A good stock of lettuce should now be placed under glass, 
close under south walls or other place of shelter. 
Prepare for taking up potatoes, carrot, parsnip, beet, scorzonera, 
salsafy, skirret, and Hamburgh parsley, for storing. Finish spawning 
mushrooms-beds made in September, and make another to succeed the 
first. 
Dig or trench all vacant ground, adding good dressings of dung 
where requisite, laying the surface rough or in ridges, if the soil be wet 
or clayey ; but, if light, quite smooth. 
Fruit Garden. —Gather fruit as they become fit, on dry days, for 
storing. Go over the wall-trees once more, to remove unnecessary 
shoots, and stop all those likely to bear next season. Remove all sorts 
of fruit-trees and shrubs; wash them frequently with soap-suds or 
other liquid, to prevent winged insects laying their eggs on them at 
this season. Shift potted fruit-trees; and, if an additional number be 
required, now is the best time to pot them. 
Flower Garden.— House greenhouse plants, and re-pot such as 
have been out in the borders for the summer. Use temporary cover¬ 
ings for seedling dahlias, lest night frosts prevent their blooming. 
Chinese chrysanthemums will also require protection, as, without some 
fostering care, they will hardly bloom well this hitherto ungenial 
season. All plants lately propagated by cuttings, layers, or seeds, may 
be bedded out; and all projected alterations or improvements in the 
dower garden and shrubberies made in this month, and the sooner the 
better. Prepare beds for the reception of bulbs, &c., to be planted in 
this and the following month, and composts of all kinds for potted 
plants. Begin pruning shrubs as soon as the leaves are off. Pot roses 
for forcing, and all other flowering shrubs. Divide overgrown peren¬ 
nials. Sow boxes and pots of mignonette to go into frames; and place 
all plants liable to be hurt by frost in places of safety. 
COTTAGE ECONOMY. 
“ Bees.— -The hives this month should be weighed, and, after allow¬ 
ance is made for the weight of the hive and bees, an estimate may be 
formed of the actual quantity of honey. This must be your guide for 
feeding. Such hives, therefore, as appear weak, ought to be bounti¬ 
fully fed with the syrup—namely, one pint of ale, one pound of 
sugar, and about half an ounce of salt; the whole boiled together and 
