326 
THE LADIES' FLOHLL CABINET. 
more above the level of the general designs; after tins 
came the planting, ■which must have been extremely 
difficult. Tins was entirely with Echeveria Secunda 
glauca. of which were used nearly 8.000 in each portrait, 
from plants two inches in diameter to those not more 
than one-quarter of an inch. For those parts of the 
features standing in relief the larger plants were used, 
standing out boldly in the line of sight, such as the 
beard, the hair, shoulder and drapery; for the smoother 
or secondary surfaces, the plants were so arranged as 
to show a quarter of the imder side being tipped away 
from the vertical lines: for the depressions of the fea¬ 
tures. the smallest plants were used; and in the portrait 
of Lincoln even the wrinkles on the forehead and the 
furrows in the cheek were as natural as if from a photo¬ 
graph. as was also the ear-lobes and indentations of the 
ears. To make all more life-like, those parts on the 
secondary surfaces where the plants were leaned back¬ 
wards, the sun had so tinged the surfaces as to cast a 
flesh-like tint over the whole, when seen at a distance, 
giving it the appearance of the finest bronze. 
So much for the portraits, which rested on a cushion 
of Othonna crassifolia. surrounded by an oval frame 
of Alternanthera Paranoyeoides of about eight inches 
wide, the corners filling up the square being Sedum 
carneum variegatum. 
Now for the spaces of twelve feet, each side of the 
Lincoln portrait, beginning with a broad band of Alter¬ 
nanthera Paranoycoides fourteen inches wide, and a 
band twelve inches wide of Alternanthera Aurea, alter¬ 
nating and repeating until the spaces were complete, 
a broad band, some twenty inches wide, of the bright 
red Alternanthera Amabilis superba running diagonally 
through from the farthest top corners to the base of the 
portrait. In the design, on either side of the Washing¬ 
ton portrait, Alternantheras were used, but arranged in 
the shape of a fan, the longest rays reaching to oxtreme 
top corners on either side. Tho quantity of plants used 
in these two designs was as follows: Echeverias, 16,000; 
Alternantheras, 18,000; Sedums, 200; Othonna, 300; a 
total of 34,500. Mr. Hamilton, in all of his artistic 
bedding, always plants so that in a week after the plants 
are out they are as good as at the end of the season. 
There is no waiting for plants to till up, and the effect 
is instantaneous. What will be done at Allegheny next 
year remains to be seen, but if there is anything new 
to be found out we have no doubt it will be there. 
Queens. L. I. JOHN THORPE. 
PROTECTING PLANTS DURING WINTER. 
The utility of protecting plants during winter is not 
sufficiently appreciated; even those of reputed hardiness 
in any given climate will well pay the expense of partial 
protection from the severity of low temperatures. Wil¬ 
liam Saunders, in an article upon this topic in one of our 
exchanges, says: “ It is sometimes remarked that a plant 
to be fitted for general cultivation must have, among its 
good qualities, the faculty of taking care of itself at all 
seasons; but it must be remembered that the majority 
of plants, grown for the sake of their products, have 
been removed from their natural conditions, by change 
of climate, selection, crossing, hybridizing, etc., to such 
conditions as are found most conducive towards realiz¬ 
ing the purposes for which they are grown; protection 
from extremes of temperature, therefore, becomes a 
part of culture routine, and in many instances it is one 
of much importance. 
“ The degree of cold that plants will resist without 
being injured cannot be definitely ascertained short of 
actual experiment; their powers of resistance depend 
upon many contingencies. A plant will sometimes be 
destroyed by exposure to a temperature not lower than 
it had previously encountered without sustaining any 
apparent injury. It is not to be supposed that this 
seeming anomaly is due to any change in the laws of 
Nature; but it is to be traced to causes that influence 
the resisting power, and upon the knowledge of these 
causes depends our ability to aid, by culture processes 
and appliances, this power of resistance in plants which 
form the objects of special culture and care. 
“The exact process by which cold destroys plants is a 
matter upon which there is yet room for conjecture. 
The mechanical action of frost on vegetable tissue is 
undoubtedly a cause of injury; fluids expand while 
freezing, and the expansion of the sap while undergoing 
this process lacerates and disrupts the tissue, interrupts 
the connection of the sap-vessels, and hastens destruc¬ 
tion and decomposition, especially in delicate and suc¬ 
culent growths. When, therefore, a plant has reached 
a degree of maturity which has converted the fluid 
matter into woody fibre, its power of resisting cold is 
much greater than when its tissue is highly charged 
with watery matter, so that it is a well established 
axiom that plants resist cold in the inverse ratio of the 
quantity of water which they contain, or in proportion 
to the viscidity of their fluids. 
“ But it is also well known that the mere thermomet¬ 
ric degree of cold does not indicate the extent of the 
injury that plants suffer during winter. The liygro- 
metric condition of the atmosphere is at least of equal 
importance. 
“Plants that pass with safety through a zero cold in 
December, will frequently be destroyed by the cold dry 
winds of March, although the thermometer may not 
indicate more than ten degrees of frost. The intense 
acidity of these cold winds acts in a similar manner as 
the hot, dry winds of summer. 
“ The moisture of the plant is extracted by evapora¬ 
tion, and the resulting injury will depend upon the 
amount thus evaporated. 
“ It follows, therefore, that whatever tends to render 
tissue moist and prevents its solidification, increases its 
susceptibility to injury from cold; and whatever tends 
to reduce its humidity and hastens the conversion of 
fluid matter into woody fibre, increases its power of 
resisting cold; and upon the recognition of these princi¬ 
ples all protecting appliances should be based.” 
We would add to the above that in a climate as 
changeable as ours, where it is by no means an uncom¬ 
mon occurrence to have all the seasons represented in a 
