February 10. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENEK. 
367 
often operate upon at one and tlie same time. Pro¬ 
tection from heavy cold rain ouglit also to be applied if 
possible; and those who have a series of brick pits with 
wooden shutters will have all the benefits they seek 
after in that way, as their coverings turn the rain; but 
where anything of that kind is to make, it had better be 
glazed at once, for however useful a deal door may be to 
e.Kclude frost and cold, it is worse than useless in the day 
time, and we often have very cold, chilly days in spring, 
to say nothing of snow and other evils, against which 
the delicate foliage of a newly-developed vegetation has 
a poor chance of surviving. A still more homely, yet 
not-to-be-despised, protection, is by sticking the bed all 
over with evergreen boughs, which, however, must be 
renewed betimes. 
Attend carefully to Melons and Cucuinhers that may 
be progressing. The dull weather at the end of last 
mouth was very unfavourable to these fruits ; however, 
the increased length of days, with other advantages, will 
accelerate their growth, to encourage which, be sure to 
maintain a nice, sweet, lively heat, sufficiently moist to 
be agreeeble, without being entirely enveloped in steam. 
If you have had recourse to dung-beds, be sure that due 
and eflective linings be applied in time; if fire-heat in 
any sliape, the amount of warmth supplied is usually 
more at command, although the due proportion of mois¬ 
ture that accompanies it is more difficult to regulate, 
but it must be done if possible, otherwise a sickly 
growth and premature decay is the consequence. Give 
air very S])aringly, except on mild days, when the ad¬ 
mission of a little will be grateful to the plants inside. 
Give a little tepid water to plants in pots that may be 
standing about, and prick out others from the seed-pot 
as they require it, sowing more when needful. 
Attend to the digging and preparing of ground for 
sowing the principal spring crops. Onions, which require 
sowing early in March, ought to have the ground pre¬ 
pared for them at once, otherwise it will not have time 
to mellow down prior to being wanted. Manure and 
dig any places left undone until now, and let all other- 
work connected with the winter be finished as early as 
possible. Dung, or leaves that have been used in forcing 
Sea-kale, kc,., may be wheeled away to vacant squares, 
leaving, however, sufficient around each plant to secure 
it against cold and frost that may visit us yet. Plant 
Potatoes on warm, sheltered borders; and plant out 
Beans that may have been in for forcing purposes. 
Examine and cut the various Brocoli that come into 
use, aird note down any peculiarity respecting each 
individual kind. The past winter having been mild, 
these have been more plentiful than usual, and notes on 
the excellence of any particular variety, though good in 
its way, must not be implicitly relied on another season, 
which may be severe, and, consequently, death to some 
of the kinds differing but little from the Cauliflower. 
Brussels Sprouts, and the whole tribe of Kale, have never- 
ceased to grow during the past season, and, consequently, 
there is no lack of them. Tire same may be said of 
Spinach, and, in many instances. Lettuce and Colewort 
Cabbages as well, while Celery has kept worse than 
usual, the wet weather inducing decay, while the mild¬ 
ness of it encouraged growth in such as resisted decay, 
and the coirsequence is, that abundance of what was 
expected to be good Celery is run away, and will speedily 
be rendered useless. 
The earliest Peas will now require sticks, i. e., if they 
have escaped the misliaps many of them are liable to in 
an unusual season. Those which hitherto look robust 
and strong, desire a little extra protection when bad 
weather does set in, otlierwise they are liable to become 
what gardeners term “ black in the leg,” which is a 
disease analogous to w-hat carries off many plants and 
vegetables that have attained a too forward state when 
the bad weather sets in. Sticks of a closer kind, or what 
is better, mats occasionally thrown over them on cold 
nights will save them very much; but still we expect 
the second crop will, in many instances, exceed the first 
one for eariiness and fruitfulness. Beans are hardier, 
but when too forward, are likewise subject to the misfor¬ 
tune named above. A sowing of each of these may bo 
made ; Peas, in fact, may now be sown every fortnight, 
and Pcans the same, provided the demand for them be 
equally great, which, however, is not always the case. 
J. Robson. 
A WORD TO SPINSTERS. I 
By the Authoress of '•‘■My Floiuers," dtc. 
In one of my former papers I drew the picture of a widow j 
w'ho gave the “ promise,” to enter upon a second married 
life. I am now going to address the unmarried women who 
may be thinking of taking a first step in matrimony, and 
would earnestly call their attention, now, while it is not too 
late, to a few facts which may be a wholesome warning, and 
prepare them a little for circumstances which do occur 
sometimes, and which may come upon them in an hour 
when they think not. 
Eliza Gibson was a highly respectable young woman, the 
sister of a wealthy farmer; she had received a very fail- 
education for her station in life, and had been brought up 
as a governess. For some years she had settled in a village 
as the mistress of a little school, and she had a number of 
very respectable children sent to her as day-scholars. She 
was going on quietly and comfortably, and I sujjpose she 
had saved up a little money, for it fell upon a day, that she 
was asked in marriage by a man who looked much yottnger 
thau herself, and who was very busy with all kinds of con¬ 
trivances for getting a living. He was always at something; 
making hay-rakes, buying old tumble down horses, taking 
little bits of copse-wood for faggot-making, in short, turning 
his hand to anything, and seeming to be very active and 
industrious in all his ways. 
Very much to the dissatisfaction of her friends, Eliza 
Gibson became Mrs. Jolliffe. She was quite old enough, 
and independent enough to marry when and whom she 
pjleased, but I never yet heard of, or saw a marriage under¬ 
taken against the wishes and advice of friends that had not 
a thorn in it. There must be a something ; affection blinds 
one’s eyes, but lookers-on see clearly; and when the deed 
is done, and we have settled quietly down, many things rise 
up to the surface that are not nice, and it is too late then to i 
skim them off; the bitter and the sweet cannot be separated 
then, they must be mixed together for ever. 
Mrs. Jolliffe kept on her little school, but they took a 
much better house, and seemed to be going on pleasantly 
enough; but she very soon repented of her choice, and 
doubtless wished herself Eliza Gibson again. She found 
her husband a man of low tastes and habits, different from 
anything she had ever been used to, and this shocked and 
distracted her. He used to have dealings with gipsies, 
about old horses and other things, and he would bring these 
people into his house, into his wife’s neat parlour, and keep 
them talking, and drinking, and smoking there, to her 
horror and disgust. His conduct to herself must have been 
brutal too, from what has since taken place, but she could 
not help herself; she had taken him “ for worse," as well as 
“ for better,” and all she had to do was to bear it. At 
length, however, her health began to give way. She kept ■ 
on her school, hut she w-as evidently breaking down ; and in | 
the course of the last autumn she was obliged to dismiss ' 
her little pupils, hoping that after Christmas she might be : 
well enougb to take to them again. Alas ! that time never ; 
came for her. Before the winter holidays were over she was 
laid in the churchyard, and her place knew her no more. 
Very strange reports got about during the few tveeks 
before poor Mrs. Jolliffe's death. Her husband would let 
no one go near her; he had a little girl in the kitchen, but 
no one else, and he waited upon his wife himself. \Yhen 
any one called to enquire, he said his wife was much the 
same, but could not see them ; not a creature could get to 
her. This seemed strange, but at first it was not particu¬ 
larly noticed. At last, a very respectable -woman, who knew 
