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THE EIOHT MOMENT. 



HIS is the right moment, and the ground is in the right condition, for 

 planting out winter greens of all kinds to have them strong and fine 

 before winter, for you know they grow very little during the winter 

 season. Thin the seed-beds, and the plots on which the first lots were 

 pricked out ; and do not waste a plant, for the smallest will come to 

 something if planted now in a generous soil, and if planted properly. Of course 

 you know how to plant a few kail or savoys ; and it would be an insult to suggest 

 that when they are taken up in large numbers, and left laying about in the sun for 

 hours together, it does them a deal of harm ; it is a loss of at least a fortnight's 

 growth, and of ounces, pounds, hundredweights, or tons of actual food, according to 

 the extent of your operations and the degree of the punishing process. To be fid- 

 fadding with winter greens, and planting them with as much care as if they were 

 worth a guinea a plant, would be ridiculous ; the fact is, it don't pay. But, on the 

 other hand, sheer carelessness is sheer wrong, not so much to the plants as to your- 

 self ; and I am thinking of youT interests as I write this. 



I dare say you have often been perplexed at the directions in the calendars 

 about planting winter greens. You read that they require good soil, but that much 

 manuring may cause them to be tender in constitution, and result in losses during 

 hard weather. Both statements are strictly true, and to hit the golden mean there 

 are three things to be borne in mind. First, select ground that is in good heart, 

 but not rank Avith manure. Plots that were liberally manured in spring, and have 

 since then been cropped with peas, etc., will be in good condition for winter greens. 

 Second, make a distinction between those crops which are to be consumed before 

 winter actually commences, and those that must stand till spring. For instance, 

 Brussels sprouts are generally cleared off before the new j-ear ; we seldom have 

 severe Aveather till after the turn of the year, and, therefore, Brussels sprouts may- 

 have a thoroughly rich soil, and they ought to have it if a good return is wished 

 for, and they ought to be in their final places early, or they will be little good. 

 Thirdly, you may quicken the growth of the plants by a process which prevents a 

 rank growth in winter, and Avhich answers admirably where, through pressure of 

 work, a general manuring cannot be done. The ground Avill, of course, be freshly 

 dug. When ready for planting, draw drills with the hoe two or three inches deep, 

 spread half-rotten manure along those drills, draw the soil over-, and plant. The 

 plants will " take hold" of the manure instanter, and go ahead ; but of course they 

 will soon use up the nourishment in it, and before Avinter Avill be propei-ly checked 

 in their growth so as to endure the hardships of the season. This is a capital plan 

 to secure handsome winter greens in exposed localities where general and liberal 

 manuring Avould be unsafe. 



The right moment has arrived, too, for numerous operations in the flower-garden. 

 Now, you enthusiastic amateur, if you don't want to be always buying plants, this 

 is the time to propagate them. Do you want hotbeds? Put your hand on the 

 common soil, and you Avill find that the earth itself is a hotbed. You may pro- 

 pagate zonal geraniums to any extent by putting cuttings in the open border in 

 the full sun, and if you give them water as they need it to keep the soil moist, 

 every one will make roots, and be a fine plant for potting in October. But a far 

 better way is to take nice cuttings of four or five joints each, and pot them sepa- 

 rately at once in four-inch pots, and pack all these pots close together in a frame, or 

 any spare place where there will be no fear of worms getting into the pots. It costs 

 more time in the first instance to do them this way, but it is a gain of time in the 

 end, because they will need no more potting till next spring, and every plant so 

 produced will be worth at least three plants produced by cuttings in the open border, 

 as being struck in small pots they will have a close short growth from the first, and 

 will be bushy and compact when potted or planted out next season. 



Now, too, is a good time to propagate by cuttings all tfie petunias, verbenas, 

 and fuchsias you really wish to obtain stock of When the propagating is deferred 

 till late in the season, great numbers of such things are inevitably lost in the 

 winter, but if struck between this time and the first of August, their pots will be full 

 of roots before winter, and they will be hearty and strong to resist evil influences. 



