January 0. 
THE COTTAGE GAKDENER. 
205 
many other valuable things, hurtful when given in 
excess. 
The continuous rains wash out of the ground those 
soluble matters which it is most in want of; the essence 
of dung, and other enriching manures, being so frc- 
ijuently soaked in water, necessarily part with their 
juices, which, being carried below the reach of vege¬ 
tation, are lost to the ground. This being so often 
repeated, has left the ground that abounded in rich 
aninial or vegetable manures rolibed very extensively 
of some of its most important component parts, without I 
the soil deriving any commensurate advantage in re- ; 
turn. Now, it is easy to perceive, that grounds throw- | 
ing off the rain, or allowing it rapidly to subside, are | 
less likely to be injured by the extraordinary fall of 
rain than those retentive and tenacious soils which, 
having once become saturated, are very tardy in part¬ 
ing with it ; on such soils, it is not too much to say, i 
that if they cannot bo relieved by judicicrus draining, j 
that a hard-pressed surface, in a wet autumn, is better i 
than a loose, fresh-dug one; the latter only allowing | 
the soil to hold more water, without that water being 
enticed away by auy of those means which draining is i 
especially provided for; while its remaining so long ' 
unchanged in contact with soil not re(piiring it, a sour¬ 
ness arises, which requires some considerable expo- ! 
sure to the atmosphere, &c., to remove. This state of 1 
things is much aggravated when any one is so indis- i 
creet as to dig or till ground at the time it is so 
saturated. It is then compressed inecbanically into a 
condition more resembling mortar than anything else; 
in this state, a long period of favourable weather and 
treatment is necessary to bring it round again, and it 
does not always happen that this description of weather 
follows after a wet season. The long-continued drying 
winds of last spring were very beneficial that way; but 
who amongst the many that have undertaken to pro¬ 
phecy the forthcoming season, have said anything but 
“ serious forebodings of severe frosts and snows,” follow¬ 
ing each other with that destructive tendency which 
made the season of 1837-38 so menioriible in a horti¬ 
cultural point of view. That the weather of the next 
two months is destined to be like that veritable season, 
is not my purpose here to prognosticate, hut that it may 
exceed the severities of the last three winters is very 
jirobable, while vegetation is certainly not in the most 
hardy condition to resist it. 
The setting-in of the wet season before the growth of 
many deciduous trees and shrubs had been brought to a 
close retarded, and at last only imperfectly ripened 
them; tender and late-growing evergreens were in the | 
same condition; while herbaceus growth has been 
stoiiped by incessant wet, rather than cold; the number ! 
of frosty mornings having been few and unimportant; I 
while drying winds have been less plentiful; so that, | 
taking altogether, wo may conclude that many things | 
are in a bad condition to withstand the rigoiu'S of a ' 
winter of more than ordinary severity It therefore be- , 
comes the careful cultivator’s duty to see what 2 ''rotcction ’ 
can be given them, or rather what can be done to i 
enable them to stand frost and snow with less harm to ' 
themselves. Brocoli that are fit to cut suffer much if | 
exposed to frost; it is bettor, therefore, to take up all I 
such, and hang them up in some cool place away from 
drying winds or withering fires; observe, they must not 
be much stripped of their leaves, and the stem must 
he left pretty long as well. The hardier kinds, which it 
is not prudent to lift, may be partly laid down, which is 
done thus: beginning at the west side of a piece of 
Rrocoli, dig a small spit out close to the stem of 
each plant; then bend them down all that way which 
is pointing west, the earth from the bottom of the next 
row of idants may be laid on the last, and the second 
one bended over the same as the first, and so on 
until the whole be done, when they will present a mass 
of plants, all lying on their sides, and pointing west¬ 
wards. This direction I think is best, and likewise 
better than lifting them entirely and removing them 
to another place, because the loss the roots sustain 
by the practice here recommended is not so much as 
when the whole plant is taken iq>; in fact, beyond the 
fractures of a few fibres, on the side it is bent from, the 
injury that way is unimportant. The prostrate posi¬ 
tion presents a greater number of folds of leaves as 
coveriug to the heart than is shown by the ordinary up- 
riglit position, while the attempts of tbo plant to regain 
that posture is equally useful in producing a more effec¬ 
tive covering to the central, or more tender part of it. 
Endive, that has been partly blanched, may be taken 
up with balls and carried into some dry cool shed, 
and there placed with its roots in sand. A sufficient 
stock of all Roots which remain in the ground during 
winter might be taken up and similarly treated; this 
includes Celerij, Horseradish, Jerusalem Artichokes, Par¬ 
snips, Turnips, and, in fact, all other roots which are 
left in the ground in ordinary seasons; a few of each 
for present consumption may, as I have said, be housed 
as above, care being taken to prevent their withering. 
Protection must also be given to Peas that were sown 
in November, which the absence of cold weather has 
brought forward to a greater degree than usual. We 
have found barley-chaff laid along the rows, and secured 
there by drawing a little earth to it, better than anything 
else that we have tried; coal-ashes are also good that 
way. Beans may be treated the same, while ISpinach can 
only be protected by a covering of mats or other matter 
of that kind; thatched hurdles are very good, too, and for 
crops growing in beds as this and Lettuce, they act very 
well by leaning against each other in the centre, forming 
a “ span-roof” of no mean capacity. By this kind of 
shelter, large and forward Lettuce plants may be saved, 
while the younger ones, being hardier, stand the winter 
without such coveriug. It is almost useless to talk of 
covering-up frames, &c., because this is so universal a 
job as to be known to every one. The p)umps, water- 
pipes, and other contrivances for sui)plying that neces¬ 
sary article must .also be duly protected, if not already 
seen to, and all other means adopted that can render 
things more secure, such as the well-covcriug-ui) of 
potato-heaps and other stores; and in fact, all those 
et ceteras which alone constitute good management 
must be seen after before that severe weather sets in 
which weather-ju'ophets tell us is in store for us still. 
J. itoHSON. 
ACCOUNT OU A PROVINCIAL HORTICUL¬ 
TURAL MEETING IN SCOTLAND. 
In compaiing the present with the past state of horti¬ 
culture tbrongliout different districts of Great Britain, one 
is forcibly struck with tbe advances wbich bave been made 
within only a brief period of time; and there can be little 
doubt that much of tbo progress is imputable to the exer¬ 
tions of Horticultural Societies. By means of these useful 
institutions, a spirit of emulation has been evoked in locali¬ 
ties remote from the general intercourse of the world, and 
among classes to whom a love of plants was hitherto an 
unknown pleasure. No small amount of ordinary procedure 
in society may be said to be a result of fashion, more than 
of deliberate principle; and taking advantage of this con¬ 
spicuous tendency, horticultural societies have, wherever 
established, created a certain fashion in the taste for plant 
culture, and thereby fixed and given currency to feelings 
that might otherwise have languished, and been of no 
practical avail. The fashion being led by parties for whose 
opinions and habits there is considerable respect, others in 
their various degrees have followed, till at length the most 
humble and least excitable have been stirred into activity. 
Having attained this desirable point, it is astonishing how 
