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Protection from Frost

The common trees and fruits of the garden require but little care as regards frost in our comparatively mild winters, but many plants, trees, and shrubs, coming originally from warmer climates, require much attention during winter to keep them alive. It is useless to attempt preserving geraniums, myrtles, and a great many of our common summer plants, without keeping them through the winter in a greenhouse of some kind or other. A small greenhouse may now be cheaply erected, but for the preservation of a small number of plants the greenhouse pit is a cheapest and most convenient substitute. It consists only of a hole twelve feet by four dug in the ground to the depth of six feet, having at the top a skylight. It should if possible be dug in sheltered situation, open to the south and well backed behind, and the glass-top, which should merely consist of one frame laid in a slanting position to the south over the top of the hole, the back of which is raised to support it, the front being slightly lowered. The entrance to the pit is at the side, to which a stout wooden door nailed over with straw bands should be attached, and two or three steps should lead to the interior of the pit, where a few shelves may be arranged upon which to place the flowers, &c. In this pit flowers, cutting, bulbs, and a variety of other things, may be preserved through the winter, with very little cost or trouble, and it will be of a great deal of use in many other respects.

THE YOUNG GARDENER'S CALENDAR FOR THE WORK TO BE DONE IN ALL THE MONTHS OF THE YEAR.