_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 deg.
to 10 deg. 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 in. 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 in. 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. They may be taken in December or January if preferred.
_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 most 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 sometimes produce troublesome weeds. Mulch
the beds with 2 or 3 in. 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 in. 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
them, 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 approach of very cold weather they should be covered
with straw mats or shutters. In the colder latitudes, and even in the
middle states, it is absolutely necessary to protect cauliflower in
this way, as it is much more tender than cabbage and lettuce plants.