254 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Dece.mber 80. 
I the month (see former numher of The Cottage Gardener as to the 
manner); water, give none in frosty weather, but as soon as a change 
takes place apply it early in the morning of a line day. Verbenas, give 
air to; trim oft’ decaying leaves and mould; stop such as are growing 
and drawing up weak. T. Appleby, 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
Annuals in borders, keep free from fallen leaves or other litter; and, 
if the weather is line, sow a few more at the end of the month. Bulbs, 
see that mice or rats do not get to them : fresh soot keeps them off for 
awhile. Cuttings, of various hardy deciduous shrubs, climliing roses, 
and the like, may yet be put in. Edgings, see that they are in good 
order; slate edgings are the best, then box: either may be laid this 
I month. If the soil is dry at the end of the month, plant some Gladioli, 
such as Paittacinus, Gandavensis, and their varieties, and continue in 
* monthly succession to the end of April. Forget not to procure such 
stakesj rods^ pegs^ and tallies^ as may be wanted next summer, in time. 
Destroy raf.v, micCi and other creatures destructive to seeds and roots. 
Again look at the protected plants, to see they are dry. Grass, keep it 
clean and well rolled. Hedges, evergreen and otherwise, may yet be 
planted and dressed. Layers of evergreens, or deciduous shrubs, may 
be made as the borders are cleaned. JManure, in composts, apply to 
such flower-beds as may require assistance; and in a solid, rotten state 
to all roses. Mulch all newly-planied trees, he. Potted plants in 
reserve garden secure from frosts. Planting, push forward in mild 
weather. Privet, make cuttings of the young shoots for increase. 
Prune and regulate every tree or bush which requires it; l)c more sparing 
with evergreens. Ranunculuses, if the soil he dry, plant a lot for 
another succession. Hoses, prune, plant, and dung, if not already 
done; protect Tea and young Bourhous; and wash them with strong 
lime and soot paint, to kill moss and insects. Seedlings, and all young 
plants, protect according to their hardihood and strength. Suckers, 
pull up and destroy, unless wanted for increase, as those of some roses, 
&c. Trench vacant ground. Walks, roll as soon as they are dry, 
after rains or frost, and keep them regularly cleaned. Weeds, destroy 
everywhere. Wiibeling, reserve for frosty or very dry weather. Four 
times, within our memory, after unusual mild weather to the middle of 
January, we experienced severe frost and rough weather; provide against 
another of these trials in time, and see that everything is ready for 
securing a supply of ice at the first opportunity. D. Beaton. 
ORCHARD. 
Apples, cleanse from blight, moss, &c.; brine and soft soap are good 
for such purpose. Bush-fruit, plant, prune. Composts, procure and 
prepare. Cherries, plant, prune. Cuttings, plant of Gooseberries. 
Currants, &c. Chestnuts, plant. Dress all borders. Figs, protect. 
Fruit-room, look over weekly; be sparing in giving air; remove de¬ 
caying fruit, and keep the room dark. Filberts, plant. Fork, borders. 
Gooseberries, plant, prune. Lavers, make. Loam, procure for 
stations. Mulching, perform. Mulberries, plant. Medlars, 
plant. Nails anrf S/trerfi', dress. Nectarines: See PeacJies. Plums, 
plant, prune. Pears, plant; prune ordinary kinds. Peaches, plant, 
prune, train, and dress. Planting in general proceed with. Stations, 
make. Training in general proceed with. Trenching, carry on. 
Trees, stake. Vines, prune and train. Walnuts, plant. Wall- 
trees, in general prune and regulate. Wash, the following, may be 
applied to walls: two-parts soot, two-parts sulphur, four-parts lime, 
applied with a brush into every crevice ; urine or soap-suds, or both, may 
be employed to mix with. H. Errington. 
FORCING-HOUSE. 
Air: See Ventilation, Asparagus, get out succession-beds on mild 
heat. Apricots: See Peach. Bottom-heats, sustain and assist, 72 ° 
to 78°. Cucumbers, top, dress, train. Cherries! See Peach. 
Coverings, use where possible, to save fire-heat, and to protect from 
extremes. Figs: See Peach, Fires, use discreetly. Glass, wash all 
roofs. Grapes, ripe, use fires and air liberally, remove decaying berries. 
Insects, extirpate ; use fumigation, the sponge, and soft soap. Kidney- 
beans, pot, and provide successions. Nectarines and Peaches, in 
bloom, air liberally, and shake to disperse the pollen. BIusurooms, 
protect well, if out doors; in house, use much water on floors. Pines, 
continue to sustain proper heat to, cover well in dung-pits, and remove 
linings. Pf.aciies: See Nectarines. Hoots, protect in boxes, tubs, 
^c. Strawberries, give air and light, use liquid-manure where 
blossoming; introduce successions. Tarragon and other herbs, in¬ 
troduce to heat. Ventilate as freely as you dare. Vinery (Early), 
proceed steadily; keep a moist air; raise the heat at blooming-time; 
use sulphur against mildew. Water, always use in a tepid state. 
H. Errington. 
GREENHOUSE. 
Air, admit at every favourable opportunity, whenever the temperature 
outside is above 35°, except in windy or foggy weather, especially among 
Heaths, Epacrises, and Azaleas that you do not wish to bloom early. In 
foggy weather, though warm, it will be advisable to put on a little fire, 
to change the visible to invisible vapour. If the fog was of short con¬ 
tinuance, and could be kept out of the house, air might be dispensed 
with, as well as fires, though it should not be forgotten that the motion 
given to tlie air by a little firing is a great security for the health of the 
plants in dull weather. Soft-wooded plants should be kept at one end of 
the house. Bulbs and hardy Shrubs, such as Lilacs, Azaleas, and 
Roses, introduce from the forcing-house, placing them at the closest and 
warmest end of the house ; Calceolarias, Cinerarias, Geraniums, and 
Chinese Primroses, clean, shift, and supply at times with manure-water. 
Camellias and Cytisdses opening their buds, supply with manure- 
water. Climbers, prune in, if not already done, those that produce 
their flowers on the young wood ; others, such as Kennedyas, now 
flowering and growing, attend to; and especially train, every day, the 
Tropveolams, if you wish to prevent confusion. No time should be lost 
in potting such kinds as Tricolorum, Jarrattii, Speciosa, Azurea, &c., 
if not already done. Fires, light in close, dull weather, to enable you 
to give a circulation of air. Beware of heating too much when frosty, 
as, without due precaution, the atmosphere will be too dry ; it is better 
to use coverings for the glass. This is more particularly to be attended 
to, after the dull moist weather we have had. Fuchsias : the for- 
wardest may now be pruned and repotted. Geraniums and Cinerarias 
will, in all likelihood, want cleaning and fumigating. The first may now 
be repotted for late Blay and early June blooming, and the latter must be 
shifted and kept growing, sb as to prevent them throwing up llower- 
stalks, if late bloom and large specimens are desired. Where room is 
limited, a fine display is obtained by successions, and using not larger 
than six-inch pots. Not a withered leaf, nor an aphis, should stand 
longer than when seen. When the fly covers a leaf in myriads, smoking 
with tobacco then, is tantamount to labour and money thrown away. 
Hoses in pots, for April and May and June blooming, in the greenhouse, 
finish pruning; wash with a paint of soot, sulphur, and clay; top-dress 
with rich compost; and plunge, if possible, in a house or pic—sawdust 
will be a good material—and give at first a temperature of 40° to 45° at 
night, and from 45° to 55° during the day. Succulents, unless growing 
and snowing flower, refrain from watering. Tropwoiuni Lobbiannm, and 
jManettin hicolur, will be great ornaments now, in a warmish dry green¬ 
house. Water plants only when requisite, and perform the operation 
after breakfast, using water rather higher than the medium temperature 
of the house. Place a few Achimenes, Gesnera, and Gloxinia roots into 
heat for early blooming. In a conservatory or greenhouse, where no 
hard-wooded plants to speaic of are grown, and where a medium heat of 
50° can he maintained—that is, 45° at night, and 55° during the day— 
Puinsettia piUrherrima, Euphorbia Jacquinifiora, he., may be in¬ 
troduced from the stove. For the Pobisettia especially, if a little extra 
heat can be given in April, a close cold pit in summer, an average night 
temperature of 50° in October, and a medium of from 45° to 55°in winter, 
nothing can surpass the brilliance of the large crimson floral leaves, for a 
couple of months, at this period, while the brilliancy remains longer in 
such a house, than in a plant stove. (See Calendar of last month.) 
R. Fisn. 
KITCHEN-GARDEN. 
Artichokes, attend to, shelter, &c. Asparagus, plant in hotbed; 
attend to that forcing ; temperature about 65°, and at night 50°. Beans, 
plant, b.; earth-stir among often; advancing crops protect from frost; 
plant in hotbed, if required. BEET(red), plantforseed. Brocoli, protect 
from frost. Cabbages, plant, e.; sow, e.; plant for seed. Cardoons, 
attend to, shelter, he. Carrots, sow small crop ; plant for seed ; (early I 
Horn) sow on gentle hotbeds, till the frame up well with earth, so as to | 
bring the crop up close to the glass ; attend to early thinning-out, and j 
earth-stirring with a little pointed stick among all frame crops. Cauli- | 
flowers in frames, attend to protection from frost, and give all open i 
air possible in open weather, by taking the lights entirely off; also, hand¬ 
glass crops, clear away all decayed leaves and slugs, and earth-stir often; 
if young plants are required, a pinch of seed may be sown in pans, and 
placed in any heated structure, but have a gentle hotbed made up ready 
to prick them out upon, keeping the young crop up close to the glass. 
Celery, earth up, shelter, he. Composts, prepare and turn over. Cu¬ 
cumbers, sow and prick out; temperature, by day, 70®to75°, and at 
night 65°, Dung, for hotbeds, prepare in earnest; wheel on to vacant 
ground. Earth for hotbeds, prepare. Earth-stir, and fasten plants 
disturbed by frost, &c. Endive, blanch, protect. Frost, protect 
plants from, by temporary cpvering. Ground, trench vacant. Horse¬ 
radish, plant at anytime during the month in open weather. Hotbeds, 
make and attend to. Jerusalem Artichokes, take up and replant in 
open weather, at any time during the month. Kidney-beans, sow in 
succession in hotbed, &c. Kale (Sea), attend to ; force in succession. 
Lettuces, iii frames, attend ; protect from frost; sow on warm border, 
e. LiauoRiCE, plant, e., and dig up three-year-old. Melons, sow, for 
fruiting in I\Iay;day temperature 75°, night 65°. Mint, force, in hot¬ 
bed. BIusiiroom Beds, make, and attend to those producing; procure 
horse-droppings for. BIustard and Cress, sow in hotbed. Onions, 
clear from weeds ; examine stored ; sow a small crop, e.; plant for seed. 
Parsley, sow, e.; protect from frost. Parsnips, plant for seed. 
Peas, protect from birds by straining a single string of worsted along 
over the row; attend to the early pea sowing as near the first of 
the month as possible. It is a good maxim to always have a 
mouse trap or two set about the pea quarters. Sow; earth-stir; ! 
shelter from frost; and prepare sticks. This is a good season for 
making main sowings of early and second early peas where the soil 
works well and the weather is open. Potatoes, plant in slight hotbed ; | 
and they may also be planted out in the open border, or quarters, in I 
fine open weather, where the soil works well. Examine those in the store, j 
Radishes, sow, in hotbed; thin out as soon as the plants can be handled, | 
and sift a little dry earth among them ; sow in border, e. Rape (for ] 
sulading), sow in hotbed; (edible-rooted,) sow. Rhubarb, attend to; 
force, either in pots, to be planted in some heated structure, or covered i 
up with pots or tubs and fermenting materials. Salading (Small), sow. 
Savoys, plant for seed. Spinach, keep clear from weeds and fallen 
leaves ; make a small sowing toward the end of the month. Tansy', plant 
in hotbed. Tarragon, plant in hotbed. Turnips, plantfor seed ; should 
the weather seem inclined to set in severe, store in a good supply, or heap 
them and cover them over with coal-ashes. Weeds, continually destroy, 
and do any work which will lessen that of the following busier months ; 
in particular, such as planting all the main out-door crops of potatoes, 
wherever the soil will allow of it, and the weather is favourable. Wood- 
lice, destroy in the mushroom-house by trapping under dry hay, and 
scalding it in hot-water ; or by baiting small pots with boiled potatoes, | 
or slices of potatoes under dry moss. T. Weaver. 
London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester High-street, 
iu the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published by William ' 
Somerville Orr, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish of 
Christ Church, City of London.—December 30th, 1852. i 
