48 
CALENDAR FOR FEBRUARY. 
plants, and examined every morning. For choice flowers galvanic 
protectors have been invented, which are made to fit as edgings 
to beds, or circular to enclose a single plant or pot. Two or 
three small snails are very destructive to orchidaceous plants, 
being generally introduced among the moss. Slices of potatoes, 
turnips, cabbage stalks, &c. entice them in numbers ; and soak¬ 
ing the plants in chilled water until they are dislodged is a good 
means of checking their ravages. 
In the flower-garden all the routine work should be got for¬ 
ward as fast as the weather will permit, and all possible prepa¬ 
ration made in bad weather, by preparing stakes, tallies, and 
other accessories to neatness and order, so as to lose as little time 
as possible when the season for turning the plants out arrives. 
Protect beds of tender bulbs, and also any half-hardy plants that 
may appear likely to survive. Hardy annuals may also be sown, 
especially in light and sandy ground. 
Great care will be necessary in the conservatory should the 
weather set in cold, as no doubt many plants will be found in¬ 
clined to start into growth should it be necessary to apply fire- 
heat. But in some collections the camellias are so backward that 
a rise of temperature is to be recommended in order to get them 
into bloom before they commence their growth, when they are 
very liable to lose their flower-buds without expanding them. 
Attend to the bedding-out plants in pits or houses, and place a 
few plants of such as it is desirable to increase in heat, taking off 
the cuttings as they advance. Keep the others clean, and look 
carefully to watering them, as they will soon be growing, and are 
then easily checked. 
In the stove the plants should be regularly shifted as they 
advance, and should also be carefully looked over if at all infested 
with insects, as ere they commence their growth they are more 
easily examined, and are not so liable to injury as when they are 
more advanced. Orchidaceous plants should also be carefully 
shifted as they begin to move, taking care to break as few roots 
as possible. 
In all houses and pits the temperature should be carefully 
regulated by the state of the external atmosphere, but for fear of 
hard weather no great increase of fire-heat should take places 
^ unless absolutely necessary to exclude frost. 
D. M. 
