THE GARDENERS’ AND NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR FOR JANUARY. 
295 
best possible position for tbe birds to devour. I see no 
object in keeping the branches so near to the ground, 
and for the future intend to train two or three of them 
to three feet high before I allow them to form a head. 
—H. C. Ogle, Eridge Castle, Kent. 
KITCHEN GARDEN. 
The late heavy rains have rendered the soil too wet 
for carrying on cropping operations of any kind ; for the 
less done under such circumstances the better. As soon, 
however, as it becomes sufficiently dry, sow Peas and 
Beans, of the earliest varieties, on some well sheltered 
border; and some of each should at once be sown in 
pots or shallow boxes, and placed in any situation 
where artificial protection can be afforded without 
heat. Towards the end of the month, sow Radishes and 
early Horn-carrots, in frames on a gentle hot-bed, and a 
few Cauliflower-seeds sown early in boxes will be of 
great use. Mustard and cress, as usual, once a-week ; 
prepare Ash-leaved potatoes for planting in boxes or 
pots; cover fresh patches of Sea-kale and Rhubarb, or 
remove a portion of the latter to the mushroom-house, 
which is decidedly the best practice. Examine cauli¬ 
flower plants under glass, and in frames; remove all 
decaying leaves, and give them an occasional dusting 
with lime and soot, to prevent the ravages of slugs. 
Additional coverings in severe frost will be necessary. 
Repair box-edgings, clean and roll walks, and proceed 
with alterations whenever the weather will permit. In 
frosty weather wheel out as much manure as will be 
necessary for the undressed quarters ; as this is an es¬ 
sential operation, that can be done with much less trouble 
than at any other period. For mushrooms, &c., see 
former directions.—J. Charles, Gardener to Colonel 
Buckley, NewhaU, Salisbmy. 
WILD FLOWERS FOR JANUARY. 
Wild flowers it would indeed be vain to seek at this 
season of the year; only some few seedlings of our 
gardens are enabled so far to withstand the icy breath of 
winter as to put forth flowers at this season, and unless 
this be mild indeed, it is to the conservatory we must 
go for a bouquet. Yet there are certain plants which are 
peculiarly the plants of Christmas, replacing the long- 
withered flowers with berries, the sight or very name 
of which is indissolubly connected with this season, even 
by those who scarcely cast a glance upon the more deli¬ 
cate wildlings of the “ summer wood.” 
“ When the year its course hath rolled, 
And brought bright Christmas back again, 
Forth to the woods with merrie hearts we go, 
To gather in the Miseltoe.” 
What may be the origin of the pleasant custom now 
connected with this plant we cannot say; but it is well 
known the Miseltoe was a sacred plant with our Druid- 
ical forefathers, who went forth to cut with a golden 
sickle the Miseltoe which grew upon the Oak. It is 
rather remarkable that the plant (which is a true para¬ 
site, becoming naturally grafted to the branch on which 
it grows), is less frequently found in the Oak than on 
the Apple, Hawthorn, and other trees. It has been 
supposed by some that the Druidic Miseltoe might have 
been the Loranthus europseus, an allied plant not now 
found in Britain, which is especially confined to the 
Oak in the south of Europe ; these receive more proba¬ 
bility, however, in the notion that this very rarity of 
the Oak-Misletoe may have caused it to be especiaUy 
prized by the Druids. 
It is said that the custom of decorating our houses 
and churches with the Holly at Christmas has also 
descended to us from the Druids, and that their idea in 
thus decorating their dwellings with these green-shining 
leaves and gay-scarlet berries, was to afford the sylvan 
spirits a congenial protection from the frosts and cold 
winds.—A. Henfrey. 
ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
Ornithology. —When aU nature is wrapped in 
darkness and the wintry blast howls round our dwel¬ 
lings making the cheerful fire doubly welcome, a 
thought must often arise in the minds of those who, 
like ourselves, are devout admirers of those fairy 
things caUed birds,—where do they pass the night at 
this inclement season of the year ? As this is a part of 
their history to which I have devoted some little at¬ 
tention, I wiR endeavour to explain the result of my 
researches. 
Beginning, then, with an old favourite, the Sparrow 
(Passer domesticus), no bird has so great a variety of 
roosting-places; holes in trees, in waUs, in stacks of 
wheat and hay, in the thatch of out-houses, in chimney 
pots, in spouts, in evergreens, in ivy by the side of 
dwellings, and in pigeon-houses—in all of which he 
wiR take his repose. He is a fellow that appears well 
with the world and himself; and, although at times a 
little mischievous, ought to be respected for his close 
attachment to man. No persecution can drive him 
from our dwellings; you hear his chirp when the 
slates are almost cracking under the heat of a July sun, 
and there you wiR find him when those slates are 
thickly covered with snow,—then let him dweU in 
peace. The Robins (Erythcecarubeeula) generally choose 
evergreens as roosting-places; they wiR also enter 
out-houses, and I have found some few in holes in the 
thatch. Those little hardy birds, the Wrens ( Troglo¬ 
dytes europens ), although rather pugnacious at some 
parts of the year, appear on very friendly terms now, 
often sleeping two and three in a bed. I have fre¬ 
quently taken three from the same hole in the thatch 
of an outhouse, which, with holes in stacks, appear to 
be the principal places in which they pass the night. 
The Great Tit {Farm major), Blue Tit ijParus cceruleus), 
Cole Tit {Farm ater ), and Marsh Tit {Farits palustris), 
are very simflar in their mode of roosting ; holes in 
trees, in stacks, and in the thatch of out-houses, are the 
places mostly selected. I have caught the Cole Tit 
also, when bat-fowling, from amongst evergreens. The 
Long-tafled Tits {Farm caudatm ) roost in company ; it 
is said that they generaUy select the branch of a tree, 
upon which they sit closely huddled together. I have 
never discovered them in that situation: the only 
places that I have found them in being whin coverts 
and amongst evergreens. Evergreens are also the 
roosting-places of the Greenfinch {Goccotliramtes chloris) 
and Linnet {Linaria cannabina) : the Chaffinch {Fringillu 
ccelebs) I have so seldom met with in my bat-fowling 
excursions that I camiot with certainty speak to its 
favourite spots for roosting; but I think they wfll he 
found amongst the taRer description of evergreens. 
The Mountain finch {Fringilla montifring ilia), is said to 
roost upon the ground, but that I cannot a ffir m, never 
having met with it at any time dining my night 
rambles. The Blackbird {Merida vulgaris ), Thrush 
{Merula masica), and Redwing {Merida iliaca), are much 
alike in then habits of roosting, thick evergreens being 
the places they almost invariably choose; but the 
Fieldfare {Merulapilaris) differs widely from them, pass¬ 
ing the night upon the ground amongst coarse withered 
herbage, a situation in which one not acquainted with 
then' habits would hardly think of looking for them. 
The Starlings {Sturnus vulgaris) choose large reed beds 
in which to dose away the dreary winter nights. It is 
a very interesting sight to watch one of these roosting- 
places just before sunset, to see them arriving from all 
quarters in detached parties, when they perform some 
beautiful evolutions upon the wing—now towering 
almost out of sight, then rushing down with the swift¬ 
ness of a whirlwind and stopping suddenly when 
within a few yards of the reeds, they commence a flap¬ 
ping of their wings as if with the intention of alight- 
