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THE FLORIST. 



THE LADIES' PAGE. 



" No gradual bloom is wanting; — 

 Nor broad carnations, nor gay spotted pinks ; 

 Nor, shower 'd from every bush, the damask-rose : 

 Infinite numbers, delicacies, smells, 

 With hues on hues expression cannot paint — 

 The breath of Nature, and her endless bloom.'" 



Thomson. 



Notwithstanding the frosts and snows of April, the Cuckoo and 

 the Nightingale have not deferred their annual visit ; the former was 

 heard here on the 20th of April, and the latter on the evening of the 

 30th. We venture to prophesy that the 1st of June will find gar- 

 deners in good humour, because of the abundance of well-set fruit- 

 blossoms, and the general exuberance of natural objects. It is rather 

 unpoetical to have so much cold weather in April, but its results are 

 beneficial. Vegetation is checked at the right time, and the later 

 frosts become comparatively harmless. 



The flower-beds must be filled at once with the tender plants 

 reserved for them, if not done before. Bulbs which yet linger, and 

 seem to be in the way of these summer operations, may be carefully 

 taken up, and put somewhere else until the foliage is withered. The 

 beds which are to receive the new-comers should be well dug over, 

 some leaf-mould being added. Choose a calm day, and turn the 

 plants out of their pots, without deranging the roots, only removing 

 the crocks, and gently squeezing the ball of earth, to alter the direc- 

 tion of the fibres. Press each plant firmly into its place, and give a 

 good watering. When the new growth is made, be careful to give 

 it a right direction at once, either by pegging down trailers, staking 

 climbers, or stopping the shoots of shrubby productions, to regulate 

 the formation of the head. Daily attention to these minute yet in- 

 dispensable matters w r ill bring the garden imperceptibly into a taste- 

 ful and satisfactory state, without any large portion of time being 

 at once demanded. 



Annuals require more care to grow them well than is generally 

 given to them. " While some affect the sun, and some the shade," 

 their habits are neglected ; they are crowded together, so that no 

 room is allowed for the development of the individual plant ; and, to 

 complete the caricature, the whole mass is tied to a stick, very much 

 like a bunch of asparagus or an inverted birch- broom. All this is 

 WTong, and must be altered if a fine display of annuals is desired. 

 Their habits must be studied, plenty of room given, and artificial 

 support so applied, that it shall lend a grace to nature, and not take 

 it away. Plants of low, dwarfish growth must always be put near 

 the edges of beds and borders, and the taller in the background. A 

 pleasing gradation is thus produced, wdiile awkwardness is the re- 

 sult of the contrary practice. 



Rose-trees are infested in June w T ith the leaf-rolling caterpillar, 

 which dexterously involves itself in a shroud composed of the leaves 



