1873.] GAEDEN WORK FOR SEPTEMBKE, 215 



and perhaps the most useful of tliein all. Pot in light sandy loam, and plunge 

 overhead in cinder ashes or cocoa-fibre refuse. 



Without spot or flaw should be the condition of the flower-garden through- 

 out the month. The golden and silver tricolor Pelargoniians show the full 

 beauty of their leaves this month or next ; earlier in the season the sun is too 

 strong for many of them, but during the long quiet nights of autumn the colours 

 have time to develop their many-tinted beauties. The Zonals, too, are perfect 

 in leaf and truss, the autumn dews being seldom heavy enough in Septembei 

 to burden the flowers to their utter destruction. No weeds must be seen ; and 

 grass and gravel must be perfect. 



But while I write, thousands of gardens are being utterly ruined, and bed 

 after bed stripped of its beauty, cut to pieces for cuttings. Of all the waste of 

 force and of beauty, this wrecking of the flower garden early in the autumn, for 

 cuttings, is the most reckless. We labour hard eight months for four months' 

 floral display, and then mar two months out of the four by our sheer folly. 

 There are two simple ways of stopping the wreckers among the flowers. The 

 first and best is to plant out a proper number of plants for stock in a reserve 

 garden or border. The other is to take off the cuttings with care and 

 judgment : by collecting side-shoots and cutting back to a flower - bud, 

 sufficient cuttings may often be collected without injuring the flower-beds. 

 Either way, propagation must now proceed vigorously, as early rooting is one of 

 the surest receipts for safe wintering, with the notable exception, however, of 

 Calceolarias^ which cannot be rooted too late, if the disease is to be mastered, 

 and they are to pass tlirough the summer creditably. For Verbenas^ Ageratums, 

 Petunias, &c.,next month is time enough. But all kinds of Pelargoniums should 

 be rooted in the open air as soon as possible. Hardy Animals may also be 

 sown, and seedling JIoll///iocks, Pansies, Wallfloivers, &c., planted out. Arabis, 

 Aubrietiae, Daisies, Forget-me-not, and other spring-flowering plants, must be 

 kept clean and thin, to ripen before the end of the season. Thin the flower- 

 beds of Dahlias ; tie, train, and water with manure ; and shade show flowers 

 with caps of pasteboard, to preserve the purity of the colours. — D. T. Fish. 



FRUITS. 



In-Doors. — Pine-apples: Should cold weather set in, fire-heat will be necessary 

 to assist the ripening fruit. As soon as all the summer fruit are cut, the houses 

 and pits should be rearranged ; the autumn and winter-fruiting plants, the plants 

 for spring fruiting, and the succes^on plants, each in a compartment by them- 

 selves. Should the materials for bottom-heat require partial or entire renewal, this 

 is a good time to do it ; shift any plants that may require it, and be careful in 

 plunging the larger pots not to make the bark too firm around the pots, as in 

 case of over-heating the plants would suffer. Watch carefully for some time, and 

 do not let the bottom-heat exceed 90°. The autumn fruit will now require 

 liberal supplies of water, a tolerably moist atmosphere, and a temperature by 

 night of at least 70°, and by day of 80° to 85°, with an increase of 10° or 15° by 

 sun-heat. Give air freely in the forenoon when the weather will permit, but be 

 careful to close up soon in the afternoon. The succession plants will now be making 

 rapid and vigorous growth, and should have an abundance of air, especially in 

 the forenoons, and liberal supplies of water. The night temperature should not get 

 much below 65°. Vines : The early forced houses ought now to be at rest, and 

 should have all the air possible left on both night and day. Pay attention to the 

 ripening of the wood in succession houses. Keep ripe Grapes cool and dry. In 

 houses where Grapes are ripening give plenty of air, and in wet weather fire-heat will 

 be necessary, not only to ripen the grapes, but also to mature the wood and buds. 



