Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/306

294 294 HORTICULTURE [CALENDAR. than those sown next month or in January. Plant parsley in pots or boxes to protect under glass in case very severe weather occurs. Plant cabbages in beds or close rows till wanted in spring ; and cauliflowers in the last week, to receive the protection of frames, or a sheltered situation. Store potatoes, beet, salsafy, scorzonera, skirret, carrots, and parsnips, by the end of the month. Band and earth up cardoons. Fruit Garden. Such fruit trees as have dropped their leaves may be transplanted ; this is the best season for transplanting (though with care it may be done earlier), whether the leaves have fallen or not. Protect fig-trees, if the weather proves frosty, as soon as they have cast their leaves. Plant out raspberries. The orchard-house trees should be got under glass before the end of the month. Gather and store all sorts of apples and pears, the longest-keeping sorts not before the end of the month, if the weather be mild. Forcing. Maintain the heat in hotbeds and pits by means of fresh dung linings. Give abundance of air in mild bright weather. Dress vines and peaches. Clean and repair the forcing-houses, and overhaul the heating apparatus to see it is in good working condi tion. Plant chicory or witloef in boxes or on hotbeds for blanching. Sow kidney beans. Make up successional winter mushroom beds. Plant Houses. -Replace all sorts of greenhouse plants. Fill the pits with pots of stocks, mignonette, and hardy annuals for planting out in spring, along with many of the hardy sorts of greenhouse plants ; the whole ought to be thoroughly ventilated, except in frosty weather. From this time till spring keep succulent plants almost without water. Sow cyclamens. Begin to force roses, hya cinths, and a few other bulbs, for winter and early spring decora tion. Plant hyacinths in glasses for windows. Flower Garden. Sow a few pots of hardy annuals in a frame, or on a sheltered border, for successional spring use if required. Plant the greater part of the common border bulbs as hyacinths, narcissi, crocuses, and early tulips, about the end of the month, with a few anemones for early flowering. Transplant strong plants of biennials and perennials to their final situations ; also the select plants used for spring bedding. Protect alpine plants, stage auriculas, and car nations and picotees with glass frames ; and half-hardy greenhouse plants, such as fuchsias, &c., about the end of the month, with coverings of broom or spruce-fir, preferring the latter. Take up, dry, and store dahlias and all tender tubers in the end of the month ; pot lobelias and similar half-hardy plants from the open borders. Transplant all sorts of hardy evergreens and shrubs, especially in dry soils, giving abundance of water. Put in cuttings of all sorts of evergreens, &c. Plant out the hardier sorts of roses. NOVEMBER. Kitchen Garden. Trench up all vacant ground as soon as cleared of its crops, leaving the surface as rough as possible. Sow Dilli- stone s Early peas and Early Dwarf Prolific beans, in the second week, for an early crop ; also in frames for transplanting. Protect endive, celery, artichoke, and sea-kale, with stable-litter or fern, or by planting the former in frames ; take up late cauliflower, early broccoli, and lettuces, and place them in sheltered pits or lay them in an open shed ; earth up celery ; manure and dress up asparagus beds. Fruit Garden. ~P nt all sort of fruit trees in fine weather the earlier in the month the better. Protect fig-trees. Commence pruning and nailing. Gather and store the latest apples and pears. Examine the fruit room, and remove all decayed fruit. Forcing. Keep up the requisite degree of heat in hotbeds and pits. Cucumbers and pines, on hotbeds, will require more than ordinary attention, to prevent them damping otf from too much moisture ; hence the advantage of hot- water heating. Force aspa ragus, rhubarb, and sea-kale, in the mushroom-house, in pits, or in the open border under boxes or cases surrounded and covered by well-fermented stable dung and leaves. Sow Early Horn carrot ; also kidney beans and radishes, on hotbeds. In the forcing-houses prune and train the trees ; fork over and dress the borders of such houses as have not been already done. Plant- Houses. The directions for the greenhouse and conser vatory in January apply also to this month generally. Continue the forcing of roses, hyacinths, &c. Flower Garden, &c. Plant dried tubers of border flowers, but the finer sorts had better be deferred till spring. Plant tulips in the early part of the month. Put in cuttings of bedding calceolarias, choosing the shoots that will not run up to flower. Protect such half-hardy plants as are not already sheltered. Plant deciduous trees and shrubs so long as the weather continues favourable, and before the soil has parted with the solar heat absorbed during sum mer. Dig and dress such flower borders and shrubberies as may now be cleared of annuals and the stems of herbaceous plants. DECEMBER. Kitchen Garden. Collect and smother-burn all vegetable refuse, and apply it as a dressing to the ground. Sow a few peas and beans, in case of accident to those sown in November, drawing up the soil towards the stems of those which are above ground as a yyrotection ; earth up celery ; blanch endive with flower-pots ; sow radishes in a very sheltered place. Attend to trenching and digging in dry weather. Fruit Garden. Plant all sorts of fruit trees in mild weather. Proceed with pruning and nailing wall-trees. Examine the fruit- room every week, removing promptly all decaying fruit. Forcing. The same degree of attention to hotbeds and pits will be necessary as in the last month. Continue the forcing of asparagus, rhubarb, and sea-kale, in pits and in the mushroom-house. Proceed with the usual routine of culture commenced last month. Make the necessary preparations to begin forcing early or succession crops by the last week of this or the first of next month. Plant-Houses, Frames, &c. Carnations and picotees in pots must be kept rather dry to prevent damping ofl. Heaths and Australian plants must be very sparingly watered, and kept with only fire heat enough to repel frost. Flower Garden, &amp;lt;kc. Plant shrubs in open weather. Prune hardy roses and other hardy shrubs. Sweep and roll the lawns, and put in repair the gravel-walks, keeping the surface frequently rolled. (T. MO.) CALENDAR FOR THE UNITED STATES Continued. NOVEMBER. Flower Garden and Greenhouse. Plants intended to be grown inside should now all be indoors. Keep a sharp look out for cold snaps, as they come very unexpectedly in November, and many plants are lost thereby. In cases where it is not convenient to use fire heat, 5 to 10 of cold can be resisted by covering the plants over with paper, and by using this before frost has struck the plants valuable collections may be saved. When fire heat is freely used, be careful to keep up the proper amount of moisture by sprinkling the paths with water. Little can be done in the flower garden, except to clean off all dead stalks, and straw up tender roses, vines, &c., and, wherever there is time, to dig up and rake the borders, as it will greatly facilitate spring work. Cover up all beds in which there are hyacinths, tulips, and other bulbs with a litter of leaves or straw to the depth of 2 or 3 inches. If short thoroughly-decayed manure can be spared, a good sprinkling spread over the lawn will help it to a finer growth next spring. Fruit Garden. Strawberry beds should be covered (in cold sections) with hay, straw, or leaf mulching, to a depth not exceeding 2 inches. Fruit trees and grape vines generally should be pruned ; and, if the wood of the vine is wanted for cuttings, or scions of fruit trees for grafts, they should be tied in small bundles and buried in the ground until spring. Vegetable Garden. Celery that is to be stored for winter use should be put away before the end of the month in all sections north of Virginia ; south of that it may be left in m&amp;lt; &amp;gt;st places where grown throughout the winter if well covered up. The stalks of the asparagus bed should be cut off, and burned if there are berries on them, as the seeds scattered in the soil some times produce troublesome weeds. Mulch the beds with 2 or 3 inches of rough manure. All vegetable roots that are yet in the ground, and not designed to be left there over winter, must be dug up in this latitude before the middle of the month, or they may be frozen in. Cover up onions, spinach, sprouts, cabbage, or lettuce plants with a covering of 2 or 3 inches of leaves, hay, or straw, to protect them during the winter. Cabbages that have headed may usually be preserved against injury by frost until the middle of next month, by simply pulling them up and packing them closely in a dry spot in the open field with the heads down and roots up. On approach of cold weather in December they should be covered up with leaves as high as the tops of the roots, or, if the soil is light, it may be thrown over theni, if leaves are not convenient. Cabbages will keep this way until March if the covering has not been put on too early. Plough all empty ground if practicable, and, whenever time will permit, do trenching and subsoiling. Cabbage, cauliflower, and lettuce plants that are in frames should be regularly ventilated by lifting the sash on warm days, and on the shutters. In the colder latitudes, and even in the Middle States, it is I absolutely necessary to protect cauliflower in this way, as it is much more tender than cabbage and lettuce plants. DECEMBER. Flower Garden and Greenhouse. Close attention must be paid to protect ing all tender plants, for it is not uncommon to have the care of a whole year spoiled by one night s neglect. Vigilance and extra hot fires will have to be kept up when the thermometer falls to 34 or 35&quot; in the parlour or con servatory. It is well to set the plants under the benches or on the walks of the greenhouse ; if they are in the parlour, move them away from the cold point and protect them with paper ; this will usually save them even if the ther mometer falls to 24 or 26. Another plan in the greenhouse is to dash water on the pipes or flues, which causes steam to rise to the glass and freeze there, stopping up all the crevices. With plants outside that require strawing up or to be mulched, this will have now to be finished. Fruit Garden. In sections where it is an advantage to protect grape vines, raspberries, Ac., from severe frost, these should be laid down as close to the ground as possible, and covered with leaves, straw, or hay, or with a few inches of soil. Vegetable Garden. Celery in trenches should receive the final covering for the winter, which is best done by leaves or light stable litter ; in the latitude of New York it should not be less than 12 inches thick. Potatoes, beets, turnips, or other roots in pits, the spinach crop in the ground, or any other article in need of protection, should be attended to before the end of the month ; manure and compost heaps should be forwarded as rapidly as possible, and turned and mixed so as to be in proper condition for spring. Remove the snow that accumulates on cold frames or other glass structures, par ticularly if the soil which the ulass covers was not frozen before the snow fell ; it may remain on the sashes longer if the plants are frozen in, since they are dormant, and would not be injured if deprived of light for eight or ten days. If roots have been placed in cellars, attention must be given to ventilation, which can be done by making a wooden box, say 6 by 8 inches, to run from the ceiling of the cellar to the eaves of the building above. (P. H.)
 * approach of very cold weather they should bo covered with straw mats or