40;J 
THE COTTAGE GARDENEK. 
February 24. 
and because, above my straw covers there was a layer 
of snow, which, so long as it was dry, scarcely any frost 
would irenetrato, and which I must either wholly or par¬ 
tially remove in uncovering. How short or how long 
the covers will remain, will, therefore, depend upon cir¬ 
cumstances ; but if a very bright day should soon come, 
and it still should be frosty at night, it would be advis¬ 
able to give light; and the sun-heat would permit of the 
sashes being tilted at the back, at least, to change and 
dry the enclosed atmosphere. By shutting up early, 
heat is enclosed, and thus less covering is necessary. 
Of course, in warm weather, however dull, no covering 
will be required. Two precautions here are of import¬ 
ance ; first, when long shut up, exposure to a bright 
sun must not take place at once; especially if the plants 
are near the glass, a slight shading should be given. 
Secondly, if frost by any means penetrate, allow the 
plants to thaw before you remove the covering ; 
at least, a considerable portion should be left until 
then. 
2ndly. Plants, that from want of air, or very dull 
warm weather, or both combined, have got rather weakly 
in their growth, will not exist in a healthy state so long 
when deprived of light—at any rate, even more care 
will be necessary, to see that the heat inside is not suffi¬ 
cient to excite them into growth. Taking the chance 
either of a mild or sunny day to uncover, even when 
the nights are very cold, would be to them more indis¬ 
pensable. 
3rdly. All plants exposed to an artificial stimulus by 
heat will always suffer when long-confined from light, 
and just in proportion to the extra temperature supplied. 
Not many days—hardly two days—should ever elapse 
without the plants being partially or wholly uncovered. 
All pits or frames supplied with fermenting matter 
yield moisture as well as heat. When the weather is I 
so cold during the day that it would he unsafe to un¬ 
cover, tilting the glass for a few hours behind, even for 
an-eighth, or the quarter-ofan-inch, would allow any 
heated steam to escape. To our friends who wish to 
forward a few plants or cuttings by using judiciously a 
slight hotbed, I would say, do not begin too early, say 
the end of February or later, when the sun is generally 
so powerful and his rays so frequent as to remove all 
difficulties of this nature. I once lost some nice plants 
in a slight hotbed frame in January; they damped and 
rotted at the collar; the weather was such that I could 
not uncover them for more than a week. Neighbour 
plants, intended for succession, in a cold pit were safe. 
Whatever is growing, therefore, must have light. The 
tenderer the cuttings, for instance, and the greater the 
heat applied, the more will they be injured by complete 
darkness during the day. A radish-bed, getting fit to pull, 
and that had lost the artificial heat applied, might, in bad 
weather, be covered ujj several days without injury; but 
a young bed, with a nice heat below them, could not be 
so used. Messrs. Robson and Errington would tell us, 
that such covering-up during the day would soon ruin 
the best early cucumbers. An old cucumber grower 
once, not very charitably, allowed some young begin¬ 
ners to get into a devious course. They visited him on 
a regular “ Muri^hy ” day. It was cold enough to furnish 
an excuse even for gardeners donning gloves, and warm 
ones, too. The old man was scarce of heating material, 
and, rather than let his fine plants get starved, he just 
kept the covering on them. The edge of a light was 
just moved for a peeji—“ How nice! what, keep them 
covered?” said they, “Oh yes!” said he; and know¬ 
ingly they nudged each other’s elbows, thinking they 
had got a lorinMe, and would soon have nice cucumbers. 
Need I say what was the result of their new-fashioned 
system? The whole theory of, and the hest modes of 
using, protecting material have been more than once 
referred to. 
WOOD-LICE. ' 
“ I have got a bed ready, or nearly so, for cuttings, con¬ 
sisting of dung and leaves, quite sweet, surmounted by a 
layer of rough ashes; but, last year, I lost many cuttings 
by tcoodlice, and, even now, 1 see they are in my bed. ■ 
What can I do with them?” Your bed is just the thing 
for propagating ; but it is also just the thing to en¬ 
courage woodlice. Hung alone is not such a good har¬ 
bour as dung and leaves mixed. Most old gardens 
swarm with them. I have never been able to eradicate 
them. I will tell you how I have kept them down. 
Before making the bed, wash all the walls and wood¬ 
work with boiling water. Get a few toads, and ])lace i 
them in the bed, providing them with a saucer and 
water. If you use no glasses, and the cuttings are 
small and tender, tlie toads may hurt some of them by 
sprawling over them. Sink a few bell-glasses, or tum¬ 
blers in the bed, and bait them with sliced turnip, or 
boiled potato, and a few tender green leaves, and when 
a respectable number are congregated, turn them into a 
pail of warm water. Put similar baits into small pots, 
covered with dry hay or moss, and lay them down on 
the bed, and examine and empty every morning. Put, 
in an afternoon, a layer of dry hay, front and back of 
the pit; have a small pot, with fine rose, and boiling 
water ready in the morning; turn up the hay with one 
hand, and wield the rose of the pot on the rascals with 
the other. Besides each, or all of these, paint the rim 
I of the pot with a mixture of tar and oil, or set it so as 
it may be surrounded by water, in the case of very scarce 
and particular articles. I have had the whole of these 
means in operation at once. Toads, of course, are use¬ 
ful ; but what would a few do among such myriads of 
1 woodlice as often collect and breed in such a bed. 
DEWING CUTTINGS AND YOUNG PLANTS. 
This is sometimes called “ dusting ” them with water. 
“ What is meant by this ; is it watering them well over¬ 
head with a rose watering-pot ? Would not this, in the 
case of Heaths, for instance, especially if the bell-glass 
was put on immediately afterwards and not moved 
until they began to grow, cause them to damp ?” To 
the latter question, we say, “very likely.” To the first 
we say, that is not what we mean by dewing, nor at all 
in unison with the explanation given of these new 
terms. The questions are, no doubt, suggested by the 
article, pages 322 and 323. I would just remark, in 
passing, that though the initiated may strike many 
things without moving the bell-glass, the inexperienced 
had better not try it, but confine themselves to the 
rules for general and particular propagation copiously 
given; and that the dewing there spoken of had re- j 
ference, as will be seen from the context, to half-hardy ! 
plants chielly, and not Heaths, as these formed no I 
primary matter of enquiry, such as the article was 
designed to meet. Even Heaths, as well as other liard- | 
wooded cuttings, may often be dewed with advantage, ^ 
however, if, as has been well inculcated, a little air 
should be given at night; or after they are callusing j 
and rooting, it is desirable, for consolidating growth, to 
give more air and light than they would otherwise stand I 
without shading; taking care, however, that the foliage j 
was dry before the glasses were put down tight. In ! 
fact, in sucli circumstances, we often leave glasses off ! 
at night, and put them on during the day; and when a | 
little farther advanced, but not sufficiently so to stand a 
bright sun unhelpod, we prefer very often such damping 
of the foliage, instead of shading, or pulling glasses on, 
and thus force the leaves to absorb, as well as perspire. ; 
Now, we will dew or dust whole beds of cuttings several i 
times in a day, keeping them thus in a moist atmo¬ 
sphere, and yet even the surface soil will never get 
soaked, nor even, we may say, wet, because the water is 
