and add fresh water to them. First clear | surface must be carefully loosened with a the plants from dead leaves, and take the hoe on a dry day, and let them be neatly old earth away from the top and around raked. the sides of the pot as low as you con- FRUIT.-Apples, pears, plums, cherries, veniently can without disturbing their peaches, nectarines, and apricots, &c., mots; fill up the pot with the earth you have prepared: having done this, return the pots to the place intended for sheltering them. In mild weather transplant the carnation plants which were raised last year in the large pots and borders, &c., to where you intend them to blow; let this VOL V.-NEW SERIES. should be pruned as soon as possible. When the buds of these trees are much swelled before they are pruned and nailed, many of them will unavoidably be rubbed off. Now is the proper time to prune vines; every shoot must be shortened according to its strength, from three or four to five or six L under a hand-glass for early cutting; four under each. Sow carrots in open weather for an early crop. The early horn, or early short red horn, are suitable; a warm border should be selected. Cabbage plants, for a second crop, should be planted out. Sow seeds for cutting in July and August. Jerusalem artichokes, plant tubers at half a yard apart at least. Kidney beans. Continue successive sowings. Sow leeks for early crops. Sow onions for the principal crop as early in the month as possible. Sow peas to gather early in June, in rows eighteen or twenty inches apart; the produce will far exceed that of rows being sown near together. Sow parsley joints long, and in shortening generally At the end of the month, plant out cut sloping behind, and about half an inch above an eye or bud; let all the branches and shoots be trained straight and close to the wall, &c., at least eight or nine inches rom each other. Gooseberries and currants may be planted any time this month, either in standard for the general plantation, or six or seven feet distance against walls, &c., for earlier, later, and superior fruit. Let the currants be principally the best red and white sorts, and gooseberries of the larger earlier green and smooth red, as also some white crystals and ambers. New plantation of raspberries may be made this month: let them be planted in rows four feet asunder, and three feet distance from each other in the rows. In pruning rasp-in drills. Plant potatoes (carly kinds) close berries be sure to clear away all the old under a south wall. Sow parsnips in drills decayed stems, and leave four or five of the at ten inches apart. Radishes and lettuces strongest of the last year's shoots standing should be sown in warm situations. Sow on each root to bear next year; all above spinach for an early crop. Salsafy and that number on every root must be cut scorzonera, too, with the various kinds of close to the surface of the ground. Each of herbs. Seakale: continue to force. Plant the shoots left should be shortened about shallots aud garlic, towards the end of the one-third or fourth of their original length; month. Sow turnips, thyme, sage, &c. then dig the ground between the plants. Slips or offsets may be put off at the end of the month. TURAL YEAR-BOOK. Fruit trees of all sorts may be planted this month when the weather is open. Let care be taken that they are not planted too deep. Open for each tree a hole wide enough to receive the roots freely without THE GARDEN ORACLE AND FLORICULpressing against the sides, and about a spade deep; then having the trees ready, being taken up with a good spread of roots, let the ends be pruned, and cut off such shoots as are broken or bruised; then set the tree in the hole, and see that all the roots spread freely as they should do, and in depth so that the uppermost roots shall be only from about three or four to five or six inches below the general surface; break the earth well, and throw it equally about the roots, and shake the tree gently, that the earth may fall in close between the roots and fibres; when the earth is all in, tread the surface gently, to fix the tree properly. VEGETABLES.-Asparagus beds may be made and seeds sown. Forcing may be continued to the end of March. Sow broccoli early in the month in a warm situation, so that heads may be fit to cut from the first week of November; this being, in severe weather, a substitute for cauliflower. Sow beans (early Mazagans) for gathering in June. Sow beetroot for early crop. Sow celery in a slight hotbed, or in boxes. Sow cauliflower either under a frame, hand-glass, or warm situation, to have plants to succeed the autumn-sown ones. UNDER this title Messrs Groombridge have produced a very useful little volume, edited by Mr. S. Hibberd. The "Garden Oracle" contains a large amount of sound information on all that belongs to the flower garden and the orchard. In the almanack, Mr. Hibberd has introduced a very novel feature. Instead of inserting Saints' days, anniversaries, &c., he has selected some succulent in bloom from the first of January to the last day of December as the representative of the day: giving their natural orders, and the colour blossom, and appending on the margin valuable cultural notes, which instruct in the rearing of the more delicate objects among them. In addition to this novel feature, the book contains excellent memorand on work to be done in the garden all the year round; a list of new plants and fruits of the year; directions for propagating. Oracle. &c. As a shilling will buy the we have pleasure in recommending it t such of our friends as are fond of flowers and what lady or gentleman confesses t indifference towards nature's beauteou children? MISS LILY. MISS LILY lives in a strange, old house, 'Tis a somewhat ruined, yet stately place. Miss Lily has such a strange, wild face, Her large bright eyes have a wond'ring look, I've heard there are ghosts in that old house But th' only spirit that haunis the place, Miss Lily sings with a bird-like voice, She is fond of tales of fairyland, And will tell you so demurely, Of Pass in Boots and the dear White Cat; Miss Lily wears such a pretty hat, Covered o'er with spring-time's flowers, Which are made so that to me they seem As if fresh from nature's bowers. Oh! her pretty, fairy, golden hair To her waist is wildly streaming; And I, when her clear voice speaks, somehow Miss Lily sits in the village church, For her face, so pure, so innocent, And the dear, good thoughts which her presence gives, Will, while living, leave me never. Miss Lily is such a good, fond dear, And she loves dumb creatures nearly Miss Lily, dear, at the grand, old house, With bright eyes and fair hair streaming. And time, cruel time, will your bright eyes dim, JOHN CHURCHILL BRENAN. "JE VOUS AIME." ONE summer's eve, a maiden fair She sigh'd, "I wait for thee !" A noble steed stood prancing, She, nothing loth, receiv'd him; The moon was brightly shining- The rising morning found her They stood with hopes the same, His deep voice did not falter, But whisper'd, “Je vous aime!"" But love, like wealth, hath taken Hath felt misfortune's stings. Then, maidens, ere you listen DAISY H. MAN creeps into childhood, bounds into youth, sobers into manhood, softens into age, totters into second childhood, and stumbles into the cradle which is prepared for us all. THE MONTH. FEBRUARY. We oft mistake the ivy spray For leaves that come with budding spring, by the ploughshare; and, as the healthy Through the sharp hawthorn blows the cold wind, you hear the faint bleating of a little lamb, that stands shivering beside the naked hedge, looking as if conscious that its troubles had already commenced, as if fearful that it should not be able to pick up a living in such a bleak, cheerless, and flowerless world. At intervals, the lark springs up; and, although he is carried far aside by the strong wind, he boldly breasts the storm with his ruffled plumes, and tries a few notes, to see how they will sound after the long silence of winter then descends again to nestle beside the little daisies that are just beginning to see. WINTER still winter! but cheered with occasional glimpses of such bright sunshine, and revealing now and then such beautiful patches of clear blue sky, that we know spring is behind the clouds, and keeps withdrawing the curtain that conceals her, to look down upon the earth, as if she were eager to return. But winter grasps not his icy sceptre with so firm a hand as he did in January; the bleating of the young lambs alarms him; and the merry cawing of the noisy rooks tells him that his reign is rapidly drawing to a close; for sometimes he feels a rounded daisy stirring beneath his naked feet, though it is still invisible to the human eye. These all warn the hoary and bearded old monarch that he must soon resign his throne to the beautiful young queen, who only awaits the opening of the flowers before she is crowned. Now and then he raises "his old right arm," and compels us to confess his Now and then the blackbird and power; but the golden crocus dazens his throstle strike up a few notes from the dim eyes, and the daisies grow larger in leafless brake, then pause, with their spite of his anger; the elder puts out a heads hanging aside, as if listening in few green buds, and the willows begin to wonder that they are not answered by show their silvery catkins; and while he their former companions, whose sweet sleeps, the sunshine is ever peeping out- voices were wont to swell out the fullsigns which proclaim the hour of his throated anthem of spring. departure is drawing nigh; for Shadows of the silver birch Sweep the green above his grave. On fine days, the cottage doors and windows are thrown open, and once more the merry voices of children are heard in the village streets; for the sweet sunshine hath beckoned them forth to play. As you walk down the narrow green lanes, and along the broad highways, you inhale the cheerful and refreshing aroma of the fresh earth, as it is turned up In the ancient neighbourhood of the busy rookery the work of spring has already commenced. In the trees they are building and quarrelling, in the fields they are scratting" and foraging from morning till night. You see them close upon the heels of the ploughman; they follow the footsteps of the sower; they are ever sailing downward in search of worms or insects, then returning again to their "old ancestral trees," with an additional beam for their house, and filling the whole air around with their low, dreamy cawing, which gives such spring sound to the still flowerless land scape. a snow-flake still lingered here and there upon the meadows, until you find, on a nearer approach, that it is— When we walk abroad, we see the slow and sure progress which nature is making. First, a bud or two appears of a larger size; then we discover one already green; and it is wonderful, after a shower, and a day or so of sunshine, to witness the bulk to which the little ones have grown, though the last time we looked at them there was scarcely a sign to tell that they would so soon display traces of their green beauty. The gooseberry bush shows a dim glimmering of green, more like the reflection of a colour, than the real hue which it afterwards assumes; yet this grows bolder and brighter every day, and, at last, we find the full form of the leaf revealed on a tender and tiny bud, which the sun has tempted to open. Winter, and the first dawning of spring, afford the best opportunities of witnessing the rich effects produced by moss, lichen, fungi, or liverwort, upon the trees. Here we meet with the gaudy and mingled hues of the rich green, the glowing orange, the pale primrose, the silver grey, with browns of every tone, that go deepening down from dusky amber to the dark hue of the chestnut, until they sink into the jetty Blackness which mantles the stem of the nak. Beside these, the dark green winding outline of the ivy is fully revealed, giving a summer look to the trees it clothes, and trailing, here and there, in beautiful and slender lines, among their naked branches. The little water-runnels, which have also been silent and icebound during the winter, now come tinkling down the steep hill-sides, and roll in pleasant murmurs through the dim green meadows, as if they were hurrying along quest of the flowers. The little leaves which point out where the modest primrose will soon appear are already visible; and in our walk through the woodland, we can discover the pale green blades which tell us that the blue-bells have already come up, and that, ere long, the ground will be covered with a hue bright and beautiful as the face of heaven; for very way we discover traces of that unseen hand, which is busy with its silent work. You might fancy that a The daisy scattered on each mead and down, The cottagers are employed in their little gardens, making preparations for spring; the spade is brought forth from its hiding-place; seeds, which have been carefully preserved, are hunted up, aud even a few of the earliest sown; while, in the garden-fence, the little hedge-sparrow, not less industrious, prepares the nest which is to contain its "sky-stained eggs." Even the very changes of the weather, which seem for a time to check these operations, are silently forwarding them. The snow that occasionally falls, warms and nourishes the tender buds; the winds dry up the over-abundant moisture; mists fogs, and rains, all bring their tribute to enrich the earth, and do His bidding, who gave us "seed-time and harvest." The rank decay of vegetation, the exhalations that are ever arising, the insects that burst from their larvæ state, and the poor blind worms that burrow through and loosen the soil, are all doing their allotted work, and, though disregarded, are assisting man to prepare the soil, while Surly winter passes off Those who are not accustomed to study the habits of birds, would conclude that it is difficult for them to survive in England during our hard winters, especially such as are called the soft-billed; but were they to watch their habits narrowly, they would perceive that outhouses, stables, holes in old decayed walls, gateposts, the stems of large hollow trees, spring-heads, which seldom freeze, places where cattle are kept up and foddered in winter, all abound in food of various descriptions suitable to their nature; such as insects in their aurelia state, flies and spiders that have concealed themselves until the cold weather is over, and numberless insects that abound under the layers of dead leaves. The vision of birds |