1878 . ] 
NEW BOOKS.-GARDEN GOSSIP. 
15 
to be lifted out of tbe soil by frost, and after a 
thaw should be pressed down firmly into it. 
Beds or patches of Hyacinths, Tulips, &c., may 
have a top-dressing of leaf-mould thrown over 
them ; it will tend to ward off the effects of 
frost, and make the surface light and open for 
the spring growth. Tidiness and order should 
not be neglected in the winter, any more than 
in the summer months. 
Cold Frame. —The advice given repeatedly 
to keep all plants fairly dry and clean at this 
time of the year cannot be too forcibly im¬ 
pressed on the minds of Villa Gardeners ; it 
has much to do with safely wintering them. 
All cut-back plants may be regarded as at rest, 
and it will be an advantage to keep them dry, 
not dry enough to starve them, but so com¬ 
fortable as that when frost comes, they will be 
in the least danger of harm. Auriculas should 
be dry, both on the foliage and on the surface 
of the soil. Polyanthuses may be kept a little 
moister. Carnations and Picotees in pots will 
require but little water, and must have all the 
air possible. Have some mats or other covering 
ready to spread over the frame when frost 
threatens. If green-fly infests the plants, a 
little smoke from tobacco-paper will soon get 
rid of it. Above all things, keep a dry bottom 
to the frame. 
Kitchen Garden. —On all favourable oppor¬ 
tunities, when the surface of the ground is 
drying, and it is not too hard from frost or too 
wet from rain, let the necessary digging and 
trenching be done. No part of the surface 
should remain through the winter in a beaten- 
down state, which can be put into the much 
more favourable condition which is produced by 
its being thrown up roughly. Manure and 
leaves should be got together, both for the 
general manuring when required, and for 
bringing forward Rhubarb, Sealcale, and such 
things. Anything may be done that will givo 
the garden a neat appearance, and prepare the 
way for the active spring work, when the proper 
time comes. 
Fruit Garden. — Currant and Gooseberry 
bushes may be pruned, and the ground dug 
and if necessary manured about them.— 
Suburb anus. 
NEW BOOKS. 
MONGST useful books recently pub¬ 
lished we should note a new edition of 
Smith’s Ferns, British and Foreign 
(Hardwicke and Bogue), which was issued during 
the latter portion of last year. The work is toler¬ 
ably well known as an authoritative list of garden 
ferns, with generic characters and illustrations ; 
and the present edition contains an appendix 
recording the recent acquisitions. It has the 
defect of stereotyped books, namely, that the 
additions are printed far away from their allies, 
which is an inconvenience in tracing any par¬ 
ticular plant; and in this case the evil is 
aggravated by an ‘ addenda ’ to the original work, 
besides the more bulky ‘appendix.’ Thero 
is, besides the enumeration of species, a 
considerable amount of information on the 
introduction and structure of our cultivated 
ferns. 
— SHitii the Bose Annual for 1877, by 
Mr. William Paul, the publication of this useful 
work is resumed, and we hope it may hencefor¬ 
ward prove to be a true annual. It gives beautiful 
illustrations of four new Boses, including Magna 
Charta, Bed Dragon, and Bosy Morn, all II.P.’s 
raised at Waltham, and a fine yellow Tea Bose, 
called Perle des Jardins. The drawings are 
from Mr. Fitch’s pencil, and are very character¬ 
istic. There is a variety of useful information 
on Boses, Kose-culture, and Bose-shows. 
— @The Bosarian’s Year-Book for 1877, 
edited by the Bev. II. II. Dombrain (Blackwood), 
contains notices of eleven Bose shows and 
some half-dozen short articles on Bosology, in¬ 
cluding such subjects as Bose-showing, Bose- 
Stocks, Weather of the Bose Year, the Best 
Boses, the Now Boses of 1877, Tea Boses, &c. 
Those who take special interest in Boses will 
read it as a duty, since it is a handy record 
of some of the Bose lore of the year. The re¬ 
marks on Bose-showing are much to the pur¬ 
pose. Is this the Bose book promised by the 
managers of the National Bose Society ? 
— STiie Gardeners’ Year-Book and 
Almanack, 1878, by B. Hogg, LL.D. (171 
Fleet Street), is as usual an acceptable reference- 
book for the use of gardeners, the most import¬ 
ant of its contents, from a horticultural point 
of view, being its descriptive lists of novelties, 
and its selections of fruits and vegetables. 
— <J)f the Album Denary, the 5th part— 
Plates 17 to 20—has just been issued, and 
contains excellent chromoliths of Capsicums, 
Kohl Babis, Melons, and Badishes, with tho 
names of the varieties printed in four lan¬ 
guages. It will form a useful and highly orna¬ 
mental illustrated record of the types of our 
garden vegetables at present in cultivation. 
— Sutton’s Amateurs’ Guide in Horti¬ 
culture for 1878 lies before us, and is very 
attractive in appearance, in its wrapper of bronze 
and gold. It contains much useful gardening 
information as well as many illustrations, 
besides the catalogue matter which it is its 
primary object to circulate. 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
*g^A)HE Southern Section of the National 
Auricula Society has issued a list of the 
subscribers for 1877, with a statement of 
account showing a balance in hand of 14s. Gd.; and at 
