140 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



with for the sake of gaining a few days 

 in time. Not that days are gained. 

 One night of cold rain, or a few days 

 of sharp east wind would so check 

 them, that by the first week of June 

 they would be less forward than plants 

 only just turned out of their pots, and 

 which, if fully exposed at first, would 

 not suffer the least check. With more 

 delicate subjects it is prudent even yet 

 to wait a little, and the middle of 

 June may be considered the earliest 

 time at which it is safe to put out any 

 plants that are a degree more tender than 

 the generality of bedding-stock. No 

 time, however, should be lost in secu- 

 ring whatever plants may be required 

 for furnishing trellises, against which 

 new plants are being trained, and while 

 these plants will, perhaps, not cover them 

 for years, a few cobeas, or other fast- 

 running twiners, should be provided to 

 cover the bare spaces. Suspended plants 

 are now much in fashion, and if the 

 selection be judicious, ornamented pots 

 and baskets filled with pendant vegeta- 

 tion, have a peculiarly graceful ap- 

 pearance. The more delicate of the 

 Tropoeolums, Rhodochiton, minor con- 

 volvulus, Senecio Mikance, Hibbertias, 

 especially grossulurefolice, and ferns 

 of pendant habit, are particularly suit- 

 able for these purposes. Even the 

 common English ivy, the pretty ivy- 

 leaved toadflax, and annuals of slender 

 habit, make pretty baskets, and if 

 regularly turned round, where they 

 receive light on one side only, such 

 examples of aerial gardening are sure 

 to gratify. 



Kitchen Garden. — The ground will be 

 now, for the most part, covered, and every- 

 thing in full growth. The hoe must never 

 be idle ; weeds grow faster than the crops, 

 and exhaust the soil rapidly, and, if allowed 

 to seed, make the mischief worse. Next to 

 keeping down weeds, the most important 

 operation is that of watering. Plants lately 

 put out should not be drenched to excess, or 

 the chill will check them more than a 

 drought would, and it is better to trust to 

 moderate watering and shade combined, 

 than to keep the soil soddened about plants 

 that have barely taken root. Cucumbers, 

 gourds, tomatoes, and capsicums may be put 

 out ; the soil should be rich ; and, for toma- 

 toes, a sunny aspect must be chosen. Ma- 

 nure-water should be freely used to all 

 crops in full growth, and especially to 



strawberries, but there should be two or 

 three waterings with plain water to one 

 with liquid manure. Sow beet, early horn 

 carrots, scarlet runners, and French 

 beaus, turnips, lettuces, radishes, cabbages, 

 spinnach, endive, cauliflower, and peas 

 and beans. All salad plants should have a 

 shady position, or they may run to seed. 

 In sowing peas and beans, it is best to de- 

 pend on the earliest sorts, at this time of 

 year, as they are soon oft' the ground, but 

 Knight's marrow and Bedman's imperial 

 are good peas to sow now for late supply. 

 Dress asparagus and seakale beds, with one 

 pound of salt to every square yard, and give 

 asparagus beds strong dozes of liquid ma- 

 nure from horse-dung. 



Flower Garden. — Newly-made lawns 

 require a little special care at this season. 

 If the grass is thin it must not be mown 

 and swept in the usual way, for the roots of 

 young grass suffer from the effects of a hot 

 sun when there is not a close bottom to pre- 

 serve moisture. It is a good plan to mow 

 early, and leave the mowings till the even- 

 ing, then sweep and clear up, and the grass 

 will have twenty-four hours from the morn- 

 ing before the sun comes on it again, or, 

 reckoning from the day before the mowing, 

 thirty-six hours, which will materially assist 

 in promoting a thickening of the bottom. 

 Where walks look dingy, a turning with a 

 fork and a good rolling is often as effectual 

 a reviver as a supply of new gravel, but if 

 the old gravel is of trifling depth or a bad 

 colour, a new coating will complete the 

 beauty of the garden, and give it a neces- 

 sary finish. Carnations, picotees, and pinks 

 may now be propagated by pipings on the 

 north side of a fence, or in pots, half filled 

 with sandy loam. The old plan of striking 

 them in heat and in exciting composts is 

 quite exploded as a fallacy. Ranuncu- 

 luses will want water frequently ; they can- 

 not endure drought, and beds of valuable 

 kinds must be placed in the same way as 

 tulips, with netting or canvas. Pansies 

 strike readily from short side shoots; the old 

 hollow stems will strike also, but never make 

 good plants ; the new growth is that to be 

 depended on. Dahlias not staked should be 

 attended to forthwith ; indeed, the stakes 

 should be put in at the time of planting, so 

 as to avoid damage to the roots when thev 

 have begun to grow. Perennials should be 

 sown for next season's blooming, so as to 

 get strong plants. Sow thin in nursery- 

 beds, and prick out the plants in rows as 

 soon as they make rough leaves. If left 

 crowded together they grow splindled, and 

 never make strong plants. 



Greenhouse.— To prolong the beauty of 



