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THE GARDEN IN DECEMBER.

'He comes-he comes-the frost-spirit comes !
And the giant lake shall feel

The torpid touch of his glazing breath,

And ring to the skater's heel,

And the streams which danced on the broken rocks,

Or sang on the leaning grass,

Shall bow again to the winter's chain

And in mournful silence pass.'

The frost-spirit, however, is by no means unwelcome to the gardener. Frosty weather, or 'true wintry weather,' as we call it-which generally begins about the middle of the montharrests vegetation, and provides for plants what is so indispensable to them, a season of rest. Whereas, if December be moist and open, the plants struggle on with a feeble growth, and this expenditure of force so weakens them that they seldom recover all the year. A mild winter, moreover, is usually followed by a cold spring, and spring frosts are specially injurious to vegetation, because they attack the plant when the sap is in motion.

With the passing away of the Chrysanthemum* flowers, the bloom-season of our garden terminates, and there is little left to charm the eye except the blossoms of the Christmas rose. In sheltered spots, a wallflower or two may linger, and perhaps you may still find a sickly polyanthus, or yellow jasmine. The arbutus, however, should be thriving: and how we welcome and rejoice in its clusters of pink blossoms!

All planting and alteration should now be finished as soon as possible. The usual winter routine of garden-work will of course be undertaken on all possible occasions. There is no special pressure upon us, it is true, but it is always a good rule to clear off as much as possible before the spring.

*The best of them all is Bob, with his bright, red, merry face, only surpassed by Julia Lagravière. Another favourite is the Fleur de Marie, with its large white discs, all quilted inside and feathered round the edge. The Chrysanthemum has three merits above almost every flower. It comes in the shortest and darkest days; it blooms abundantly in the largest cities; it lasts longer than any flower when cut and put into water. If flowers have their virtues, the virtue of the Chrysanthemum is its unselfish kindli. ness.'-H. A. Bright.

CAUTIONS TO THE AMATEUR.

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The conservatory should now present a perfect contrast to the flowerless garden in the abundance of its bloom. Camellias and azaleas, Chinese primulas, Roman hyacinths, early tulips, should be in flower; and among them should shine conspicuously the vivid breasts of the scarlet Poinsettia. As plants in flower at this season are necessarily few as compared with those that are flowerless, we must make the most of them. It is a graceful custom to keep plants in our drawing-rooms and boudoirs, that the eye may always be entertained with the sight of somethings of beauty;' but they need to be constantly changed, the dry air of our living-rooms, and more particularly the gas, being very injurious, and sometimes fatally destructive to them. Hyacinths, and all kinds of bulbs, however, do well in our living-rooms. They are best arranged in groups, and the pots should, if possible, stand in a pan or saucer which fits into a vase, a layer of fresh green moss being spread over them.

Note for December.-The following cautions are borrowed. from Mr. Robinson's edition of 'The Amateur Gardener's Calendar': 'Never use more fire heat in the greenhouse or conservatory than is actually necessary to keep out frost and dry up damps. Never commence forcing a plant rapidly. Never dig stiff loamy soil when it is wet. Never prune or plant out shrubs during frosty weather. Never by any chance keep houses at a higher temperature through the night than through the day, but follow nature's rule in the matter, and let it be lower during the night. Never let the cold air rush directly over tender plants in winter. A very little top air suffices to ventilate the house in harsh weather, and drain off any disagreeable moisture. Never keep pelargoniums far from the glass. Never let the temperature of any house in which cinerarias are growing descend to freezing-point. Never carry tender flowers through the open air without protecting them. Never, if possible, attempt forcing of any kind without a genial and continual moisture in the house, and this is best secured by gently fermenting materials, such as a mixture of leaves, and stable

manure, or tan. Never permit any untidiness arising from decayed leaves, etc., in the conservatory at this season.'

Now I close my talk about gardens and gardening, in the hope that I have furnished the reader with encouragement to act upon a delightful and refined occupation, and the amateur with the instructions necessary for her guidance.

CHAPTER VII.

THE GIRL'S LIBRARY-WHAT TO READ.

'The dainties that are bred in a book!'

Too careless often as our years proceed,

SHAKESPEARE.

What friends we sort with, or what books we read.'

'Who loves not knowledge? Who shall rail
Against her beauty? May she mix
With men and prosper! Who shall fix
Her pillars? Let her work prevail.'

Cowper.

TENNYSON.

Pleasures of Reading-Thomas Fuller quoted.-ENGLISH POETRY: WHAT TO READ-' Vision of Piers the Plowman'-Chaucer-Herrick-George Herbert-John Milton-Butler-Dryden-Pope-Young-Thomson

Johnson-Gray-Goldsmith-Crabbe-Campbell-Wordsworth-Cole

ridge-Moore-Scott-Byron-Shelley-Keats-Mrs. Hemans-Burns -Hood-Longfellow-Tennyson-Mrs. Browning-Jean

Charles Kingsley and others.

Ingelow

FICTION: WHAT TO READ--Objection of many Parents to Works of Fiction-Large Number unworthy of Perusal - The Necessity of some 'Light Reading '-Prohibition leads to the Defect it would prevent-Wise Parents will permit the Reading of Fiction — Selection must be made by them-Only the Best Writers to be chosen-A Good Novel a Work of Art-Sir Arthur Helps quotedWhich Writers to abjure-Which to recommend-The Time given to Novel-Reading must be limited-The Selection of Novels to be regulated by the Disposition of the Reader-Sir Arthur Helps on the Merit of Fiction-Sympathy the Faculty most to be cultivated in Social Life -Higher Fiction cherishes and enforces Sympathy-Sidney's 'Arcadia' -Defoe's 'Robinson Crusoe '-Richardson's Sir Charles Grandison' Sterne's 'Sentimental Journey'-Walpole's 'Castle of Otranto Goldsmith's 'Vicar of Wakefield'-Frances Burney-Mrs. Inchbald's 'Simple Story'-Mrs. Radcliffe-Mrs. Opie-Maria Edgeworth-Jane Austen-Miss Ferrier-Miss Mitford-Sir Walter Scott-CooperMarryat-Harriet Martineau-Charles Dickens-Lord Lytton-Disraeli -Thackeray-Charles Kingsley-Charlotte Brontë-Mrs. Gaskell-Miss

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LISTS OF BOOKS TO READ.

Yonge-Charles Reade-George Macdonald-George Eliot'-Mrs. Oliphant-Anthony Trollope-Thomas Hardy-R. D. Blackmore— William Black-James Payn-Annie Edwardes-Justin McCarthy. HISTORY: WHAT TO READ-Importance of History-Old English History -Life of Alfred the Great'-'History of the Saxons''History of the Norman Conquest '-Lingard's History of England '— Brougham's History of England under the House of Lancaster '-Lord Bacon's History of the Reign of Henry VII.'-Froude's 'History of England'-Hallam's 'Constitutional History of England'-Green's "History of the English People'-Guizot's English Revolution'—. Carlyle's Cromwell's Letters and Speeches'-Macaulay's History of England'-Stanhope's 'Life of William Pitt'-Napier's History of the Peninsular War'-Miss Martineau's History of England'-Justin McCarthy's 'History of Our Own Times'—The Old English ChroniclersState Papers-Diarists and Memoir Writers-History of the United States -Our Indian Empire-Buxton's "History of Scotland'-The Study of Ancient History not to be neglected-No good History of Modern Europe -Much Assistance in Epochs of History'-History of France-ThiersHazlitt-Sir Walter Scott's History of Napoleon Buonaparte'-Lamartine-History of Spain-History of Russia-The 'Cabinet Cyclopædia.' BIOGRAPHY: WHAT TO READ Sir John Herschel on The Pleasures of Reading - Uses of Biography Longfellow's Lines Revelations of Biography - Reasons for Studying Biography Special Importance of Female Biography to Girls Extract from Caroline Herschel's Diary-Episode in the Life of Catherine of Siena -Margaret Roper's 'Life of Sir Thomas More '-Lucy Hutchinson's 'Memoirs of her Husband'- Izaak Walton's 'Lives of Dr. Dorne, Sir Henry Wotton, Richard Hooker, George Herbert, Bishop Sander. son'-Ellwood's 'History of my Life'-Bunyan's Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners '-Gibbon's 'Autobiography'-Boswell's 'Life of Johnson'-Foster's 'Life of Goldsmith '-Johnson's 'Lives of the Poets' -Sara Coleridge's 'Memoirs and Letters'-Carlyle's 'Life of John Sterling'-Macaulay's Essays'-Dean Stanley's 'Life of Dr. Arnold '— Miss Lonsdale's 'Life of Sister Dora '-Mrs. Gaskell's 'Lives of Charlotte Brontë and Margaret Fuller Ossoli '-Foster's 'Life of Dickens'-Mrs. Kingsley's 'Life of Charles Kingsley '—Miss Yonge's 'Life of Bishop Pattison-English Men of Letters-Miss Kavanagh's 'Women of Christianity,' and many others.

TRAVEL AND DISCOVERY: WHAT TO READ-Women who are distinguished for their Travels-Madame Pfeiffer-Lady Eastlake-Miss Gordon Cumming and others-Explorers of China-Of Africa-Kinglake's Eôthen'-Lord Dufferin's Letters '-Dilke's 'Greater Britain' -Whetham's 'Pearls of the Pacific'-Campbell's Logbook of the Challenger'-Captain Markham's 'Great Frozen Sea'-African Travel -American Travel-European Travel-Asiatic Travel. ENGLISH THEOLOGY: WHAT TO READ-Jeremy Taylor's WorksButler's 'Analogy'-Paley-Whately-F. W. Robertson's 'Sermons'John Stuart Mill-Farrar's 'Life of Christ'—Stopford Brooke's 'Christ in Modern Life,' and others.

MISCELLANEOUS READING-Miss Yonge's Ethel May-A Liberal Education for Girls-Foxe's Book of Martyrs'-Bacon's Essays'Edmund Burke on Lord Bacon-Pepys' Diary-Addison and Steele's