COTTAGE ECONOMY* 
471 
and the plants kept free from weeds, decayed leaves, and damps. 
Covering with mats will be necessary in severe weather. Asparagus, 
sea-kale, and rhubarb, intended to be taken up for forcing, should be 
covered with litter to keep off frost. 
The ice-house may probably be filled in this month, for which all 
necessary preparations should be made to get through the labour, if 
possible, in one day. 
Fruit Garden. —Transplanting in mild weather, and pruning 
and training, may be proceeded with; and, where top-dressings of 
either rotten dung or compost are required, they should now be 
put on. 
Flower Garden.— There is but little to do in the fiower garden 
at this season. If very hard frost sets in, some of the beds planted in 
the two preceding months may require an occasional covering of mats ; 
and everything liable to injury from frost should have some kind of 
protection. A few more pots of bulbous and tuberous flowers may be 
planted, to go into the house to succeed those planted in October. 
Greenhouse plants should have all the fresh air which can be given 
with safety. If any of them are growing freely, they will require water¬ 
ing frequently; but those that are dormant or stationary, very seldom. 
If the house become damp for want of sufficient ventilation, the flue 
should be heated, and plenty of mild air admitted to dry it. It is 
hardly necessary to add, that, if frost prevail, a little fire will be 
wanted every night, but never more than is just sufficient to keep out 
the frost. 
COTTAGE ECONOMY. 
DECEMBER. 
Bees.—The less the bees are examined this month the better; there¬ 
fore nothing should be attempted which has a tendency to diminish 
the temperature of the hives. 
Work to be done in the Garden .—The weather is generally too wet 
and uncertain this month for doing much in the garden; it is more 
for thought and reflection than for labour. The cottager should now 
resolve on his plans for next year’s operations, and, having ascertained 
the vegetables most useful to himself and family, and most suitable for 
his soil and situation, he ought to make preparations accordingly. 
