ones, tulips, and other bulbous roots, if not taken
up, will be in great danger from the frost, and their shoots in the
spring will either be impaired, or totally destroyed.----JANUARY. Cover
the flower beds with wheat straw, to protect them from the cold; but
where the shoots begin to appear, place behind them a reed edge, sloping
three feet forward. A mat is to be let down from the top in severe
weather, and taken up when it is mild. This will preserve them, without
making them weak or sickly. The beds and boxes of seedling flowers
should also be covered, and the fence removed when the weather is mild.
Clean the auricula plants, pick off dead leaves, and scrape away the
surface of the mould. Replenish them with some that is fine and fresh,
set the pots up to the brim in the mould of a dry bed, and place behind
them a reed edging. Cover carnation plants from wet, and defend them
from mice and sparrows.----FEBRUARY. Make hotbeds for annual flowers, of
the dung reserved for that purpose, and sow them upon a good thickness
of mould, laid regularly over the dung. Transplant perennial flowers,
and hardy shrubs, Canterbury bells, lilacs, and the like. Break up and
new lay the gravel walks. Weed, rake, and clean the borders; and where
the box of the edging is decayed, make it up with a fresh plantation.
Sow auricula and polyanthus seeds in boxes, made of rough boards six
inches deep, with holes at the bottom to run off the water. Fill the
boxes with light mould, scatter the seeds thinly over the surface, sift
some more mould over them about a quarter of an inch thick, and place
them where they may enjoy the morning sun. Plant out carnations into
pots for flowering.----MARCH. Watch the beds of tender flowers, and
throw mats over them, supported by hoops, in hard weather. Continue
transplanting all the perennial fibrous rooted flowers, such as
golden-rods, and sweet-williams. Dig up the earth with a shovel about
those which were planted in autumn, and clean the ground between them.
All the pots of flowering plants must now be dressed. Pick off dead
leaves, remove the earth at the top, and put fresh instead; then give
them a gentle watering, and set them in their places for flowering. Be
careful that the roots are not wounded, and repeat the watering once in
three days. The third week in March is the time to sow sweet peas,
poppies, catchflies, and all the hardy annual plants. The last week is
proper for transplanting evergreens,