THE FLORIST. 215 



some of our readers could amuse themselves by drawing any thino- 

 good in the way of garden-seats, or rustic garden-porches, gates, &c., 

 we would gladly have them drawn on wood, which would enable us 

 to repay the courtesy in question. The Art-Union Journal abounds 

 with woodcuts of various objects ; but the distinguishing feature of 

 its present illustrations is the series of engravings on steel from the 

 pictures left to the nation, and called the Vernon Gallery. 



THE LADIES' PAGE. 



" Farewell, sweet Summer, and thy fading flowers! 

 Farewell, sweet Summer, and thy woodland songs!'" 



Graham e. 



Although these lines are more appropriate to the close than to the 

 beginning of August, it is still true that this month is associated 

 more with ideas of autumn than of spring. This does not arise so 

 much from any deficiency in the beauty of the flower-garden, (for 

 when is it more richly adorned than now ?) as from the experience 

 we have had of the early frosts of England, which keep us in trem- 

 bling suspense as soon as we enter on the month of September. A 

 presentiment of the coming doom of our favourites is also created 

 and fostered by the necessity of propagating in August those flowers 

 of which we require a stock for next year. It is this important 

 practical matter which has induced us to strike the note of alarm, 

 lest, in the midst of the gorgeous loveliness of the passing hour, the 

 exigencies of the coming season should be forgotten. While the 

 temperature is high, cuttings and layers of every thing you wish to 

 be perpetuated or increased should be put in, that good strong 

 plants may be ready to stand the mischances of winter. The 

 memory of the gardener should be jogged on this subject, lest, in 

 the multiplicity of present engagements, the future should be put 

 out of sight. 



Now let us return to the flowers, which, after all, will be ours 

 for some time longer, and at all events demand attention for the 

 development of their beauty. Pegging down, staking, and pruning, 

 must be diligently persevered in, that the beds may have the charm 

 of neatness and elegance to set oft 7 their native attractions. This is 

 the month when Dahlias are in their glory, especially if no long 

 droughts keep them back. Next to an uncongenial season, nothing 

 disfigures the Dahlia so much as the earwig, and it must therefore 

 be hunted after in every practicable way. We have found moss in 

 small pots at the top of the stakes as effectual a mode of trapping 

 them as any practised. Take the enemies out early in the morning, 

 and place the pot beneath the foliage of the Dahlia, not forgetting 

 to put it on the stake again in the evening. This is merely a 

 direction of taste; for the pots may be left on the stakes always, 

 and so may lobsters' claws, and tobacco-pipe bowls, if their owners 



