280 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 13. 
is a large, lofty tree, often attaining, in Mexico, the 
astonishing altitude of 150 feet. In this eountry it is, 
iinfortunatelj', too tender to bear the open air, but I 
have heard there is a specimen in Devonshire that has 
stood out throe winters uninjured. 
PicEA Weubiana (Mr. Webb’s Purple-coned Silver 
Eir).—In giving lately an account of the Coniferte at 
the Rev. —Thicken’s, near Coventry, I described a noble 
specimen of this rather tender species—tender because 
it is so easily e.\.cited to grow in the spring that the 
young shoots are frequently destroyed. Tlie tree is 
liardy enough through the winter, but suffers from the 
late frosts after it has begun to grow. I’robably, if it 
was planted on the north side of a hill it would not be 
excited into growth till the spring frosts had passed 
over. In the instance above referred to the specimen 
had apparently never been injured. It is an Asiatic 
species, growing on the mountains of Nepaul, where it 
reaches ninety feet high. It is exceedingly ornamental; 
the loaves are broad, and arranged in two rows, and of 
a pure silvery-whiteness on the under side. There is a 
large specimen in the Pinetum belonging to that groat 
patron of gardening, Mrs. Lawrence, at Ealing Park. 
T. Appleby. 
{To he continued.) 
FORCING OPERATIONS PROPER AT THE 
SEASON. 
The commencement of a new year always brings with it 
hopes of something being likely to improve. The very 
fact of tho days lengthening, and less probability of 
meeting with so many dull and damp ones, helps mate¬ 
rially to cheer on the enthusiastic cultivator, to whom 
the “ dark days before Christmas ” have a more or less 
dciircssive feeling. But as that ominous period is past, 
let us also hope that the deluging rains which ushered 
them in, and kept them company, are in a measure 
passed also; and with the opening year let ns hope to 
liavo fewer of those drenching rains which have so much 
retarded out-door operations ; at all events, the increas¬ 
ing length of days is somewhat inspiriting, as by tliat 
the hopes of better times seem daily more near at hand; 
nevertheless, tho same vigilance as hitherto is necessary 
to protect tho various tender things from the effects of 
damp, while it is likely to be more wanted to protect 
them from cold; in fact, the past autumn has been un¬ 
usually mild ; many tender plants, capable of resisting 
damp, wore unscathed after Christmas; that a check 
will be given is both probable and even wished for, as 
it rarely happens for a mild wet winter to bo followed 
by a productive season; but, without attempting to fore¬ 
tell what may occur, it more becomes us to take tho ne¬ 
cessary steps to make the most of tho j)resent. Especial 
care must, therefore, bo taken of all delicate seedlings 
struggling against tbe absence of sunshine, and the pre¬ 
sence of undue moisture. Tho past autumn has been 
more than usually fatal to Lettuce and GauUjlower plants 
sown late and only temporarily protected; as whore tho 
vigorous character of tho seed, accompanied with other 
favourable circumstances, was unable to support the 
young plant against the decaying effects of so much 
humidity, it speedily fell a prey to shanking ; and many 
beds of what ought to be healthy seedling plants, 
present only a few scattered patches here and there— 
the remnants of a pestilence which the skill of tho prac¬ 
titioner strove in vain to arrest. Huch, however, as do 
exist, must bo carefully looked after, as they cannot well 
bo replaced without tho assistance of heat and glass jno- 
tection, which, for tho next few mouths, will bo less 
l)lontiful than heretofore. 
Tho begiuning of a new year is also a favourable time 
for the amateur of humble means comuienciug forcing 
o])cratioiis with the Cucumber and Melon; and, notwith¬ 
standing the improved and daily increasing demands 
there is on hot-water as an agent of heat used in tho 
production of these fruits, there arc many good old- 
fashioned dung frames yet to bo found; and fruit so 
grown very often competes successfully with that grown 
in tho more modern-heated structure in which jjipes 
and tanks of every variety of make convey the heating 
power. This competition is, however, more equal where 
the productions are not wanted very early, as the dung- 
bed, however congenial a medium for supporting healthy 
vegetation, is not vested with the power to maintain it 
against the destroying influence of a too wet atmo¬ 
sphere and a sunless sky. For very early work it is 
therefore advisable to have recourse to fire-heat in some 
j shape or other; and the same may be said of very late 
j forcing; or, in more plain language, where it is desh'cd 
to have a crop of melons ripen well in November, firc- 
j heat must be applied rather briskly, otherwise that 
[ amount of warmth necessary to insure flavour cannot 
be furnished by fermenting matter alone, without also 
carrying with it that moisture which is a preventive to 
the quality wanted. 
This late forcing must not be confounded with tho 
retarding process, whereby an article, which nature in¬ 
tended to perfect itself at a fixed time, should, by some 
process used, be prevented from coming into use at 
that time, but kept back, and allowed to come forward 
at a later period; this course, as every one knows, 
will not do for melons; disease and disaster is sure to 
follow such a plan. A plant enjoying tho sunny climes 
of the east for a very few weeks, cannot bo expected 
to accommodate itself to tho cheerless atmosphere of 
an English autumn, without the assistance which art 
and science suggest as being the nearest approach we 
can command to tho condition which it has lost; and 
yet how far that falls short, may be easily compre¬ 
hended by any one who has studied the climate 
of those countries where it is grown naturally, with 
our murky atmosphere even in summer, while in 
autumn tho contrast must be still greater. But this 
is a digression; my purpose being more to give some 
hints as to early spring work ; and in this we have a 
young plant to act upon; or rather, we have young 
ones to rear, and not old ones to keep in health. 
These duties differ so much, that we will, in the first 
instance, treat of the raising of young plants ; and, at a 
future time, offer a few remarks on the preservation of 
old ones; and, supposing that good stable dung is to 
bo had, and a frame or two at liberty, it will be proper, 
in tho first instance, to throw up, mix, and turn the dung 
several times, to rectify that unruly heat it would other¬ 
wise attain if left unprepared; besides which, those 
impure gases, of whose names most gardeners are 
ignorant (but of whoso presence they can form a shrewd 
guess by tho rankness of tho smell), are thereby driven 
off; and the moderate heat that is left is cleansed of 
that offensive effluvia, and becomes what, in gardening 
phrase, is called “ sweet.” This congenial warmth, when 
accompanied by a fair share of sunshine, is, perhaps, the 
most agreeable of any for plants enjoying ; as with it a 
degree of vigour is infused, which wo think can hardly 
bo imparted by the united power of fire and water, how¬ 
ever well they may be managed. 
This mode of heating, tho most “time-honoured” of 
any, has, nevertheless, been made tho subject of many 
novel inventions—some trying to make it act without 
its moisture being brought to bear on the plants, by 
conqiclliug it to boat some stratum, which, acting as a 
conductor, only allowed tho finer particles to pass 
through. This latter mode is exemplified in those pits 
or structures which are worked solely by linings, and 
some of them arc very useful in their way, serving tho 
purpose intended admirably. “Mills’s Bit” is heated 
t 
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