142 THE FLORIST. 
Hamburghs will last four and even five years; but in these cases, a good 
deal of the old soil must be taken from the roots, and though interesting 
as an experiment, I do not advocate keeping the plants beyond the third 
year. If any of your readers who are short of room for growing plants 
every year for fruiting will try this system, they will not regret it, and 
will no doubt continue it as I have done. ere 
SEVERITY OF THE WINTER, AND A FEW OTHER 
THINGS. 
Wes have indeed had a severe winter, and, judging by my correspondents 
in England and France, great mischief has been done to Roses and 
Strawberries. The damage done to the latter cannot yet be known, as 
the cutting down of foliage is no criterion. If the crowns and roots are 
not injured, the marred foliage matters not. As I viewed the effects of 
winter, I thought of the beautiful and hopeful words of Cowper— 
‘‘ But let the months go round, a few short months, 
And all shall be restored. These naked shoots 
Barren as lances, among which the whistling wind 
Makes wintry waste, sighing as it goes, 
Shall put their foliage on again; 
And more aspiring, and with ampler spread, 
Shall boast new charms, and more than they have lost, 
Shall publish even to the casual eye 
Their family and kind!” 
This hopeful time is now fast approaching. Peach and Nectarine 
trees are in most beautiful bloom; Roses are sending out their foliage, 
and the new leaves of Strawberries are emerging from their deep 
mulching, and seem to say there is a ‘‘good time coming.” Among 
vegetables of the Brassica tribe, nothing could do better than the Savoy 
Cabbage, which has amply served me all winter; Bath Greens have 
triumphantly withstood the severity of winter, and are beginning to 
sprout ; but of 10 ranks of Wheeler’s Imperial Cabbage I have saved 
enough to make four ranks of forward Cabbage; all Broccoli and 
Cauliflowers died early in winter. People will be taught by these 
lessons the value of hardihood and constitution as regards vegetables, 
fruit trees, fruit plants, and flowers. Of what avail are any of these if 
they have not constitution enough to stand our climate in winter. There 
is, round here, a great call for Cabbage plants, which are selling at Ls. 
per 100, and it is difficult to get them even at this price. Those who 
~ have Savoys should manure the stumps of those that have been cut; 
they will then, with Bath Greens and Turnip-tops, which are excellent, 
hold them on some time. If the ground is manured all over, Potatoes 
may be dibbled in between the Savoy ranks, and the stumps may be 
removed where the Potatoes are earthed up. The Potatoes last year 
were much blighted, and many of the tubers were spoiled; but I am 
happy to say that a great many are good, especially Salmon Kidneys, 
which are among the best of Potatoes; the earliest sorts, and the early 
planted, invariably suffer least from blight; they get ripe before the 
blight sets in. I think it far better to dung the ground in winter, and 
