188 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



GARDEN WORK. 



Kitchen Garden. — A quick eye and quick hand are now necessary to keep pace 

 wltli the season. Weeds grow apace, and the pests of the garden are in fullest 

 vigour. Prick out cauliflowers from the seed-bed; plant celery in trenches well 

 manured, transplant cabbage, kale, broccoli, etc., between .showers, or else give 

 plenty of waier. Plant out vegetable marrows, ridge cucumbers, tomatoes, and 

 capsicums. Hand weed onion beds. Potatoes ought to have been all planted long 

 ago, but if there is room for a patch where any other crop has been taken off, they 

 may still be got in. Tliin out wherever crops are crowded, and keep the hoe and 

 water-pot in constant use, and let not a drop of liquid manure or liquid sewage be 

 wasted. The best season for transplanting liardy evergreens is during Jane and 

 July. Any giips in the borders and shrubberies may therefore be at once filled up, 

 and beds of rliododendrons and other Amei leans may be planted. Water well until 

 the July rams come on, after which they will be safe. Sow salads, kidney beans, 

 broad beans, and peas, ibr succession. Sow principal crops of broccoli and turnips. 



Fruit Garden. — Cut all runners away from strawberries, unless now plants are 

 wanted, in which case plunge pots under the joints, and let them root into pots at 

 once. Vines want frequent attention now, to thin out superfluous shoots and train 

 any wanted to cover any gnps in the wall. Continue to disbud wall trees, and 

 where this has been neglected, take away foreriglit shoots, first by nipping off the 

 point; and in another week ( ut them back to the old wood. Bud plums, peaches, 

 and apricots. Prune away the centre shoots of currants and gooseberries, to keep 

 the buslies open. 



Flower Garden. — June is the season rather than May for general bedding- out, 

 and dull weather should bs chosen for the task. Dahlias may still be put out, and 

 late-blooming herbaceous plants may be planted. Pompones struck now will make 

 good plnnts. Syringe roses with weak tobucco-water, if at all infested with fly, 

 follow with a syringing with Ciear water, Plunge pot-plants in coal-ashes. Shade 

 Howers intended for exhibition. Take up bulbs as soon as the leaves fade. 



Greenhouse and Stove. — As soon as the ordinary stock is turned out to harden, 

 clear the house, and get some balsams and asters forward to keep the stages gay 

 during the next two months. Put up shading to prolong the beauty of plants in 

 flower. Cut in any plants that have done blooming ; repot pelargoniums when they 

 have made plenty of short shoots. Stove plants will want abundance of water, and 

 New Holland plants should have frequent shifts. ^ 



NEWS OF THE MONTH. 



Royal Botanic Society, First Great Show, May 9th. — The season has opened 

 grandly at Regent's Park. This was a grand show ; the weather was delightful, 

 and just before the public were admitted a royal party arrived, comprising their 

 Royiil Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duchess of Cambridge, the 

 Princess Mary of Cambridge, nnd Prince Teck, with their respective suites. Nothing 

 could surpass the splendour of Messrs. Lane and Son's pot roses, the specimens of 

 gigantic dimensions, and laden with glorious blooms ; or Mr. Turner's and Messrs. 

 Veitch's azaleas. Li place of the usual bank of orchids on the north side of the 

 tent, there was ibis time a bank of pelargoniums, with a few azaleas intermixed, a 

 remarkable display of colour. Elsewhere in the bays, the orchids were grouped, 

 and they were few enough to indicate one of the specially weak points of the show, 

 and at the same time sufficiently numerous to compel notice of them as belonging 

 to a class to which the council liad shown the cold shoulder. The arrangement was 

 most ta.steful ; the effects produced were beautiful, and the filling up of gaps was 

 all that could be desired by the most fastidious and experienced in such matters. 

 Azaleas. — Mr. Charles Turner first in the trade class for eight. The plants were in 

 the form of rounded cones, such as would usually be called pyramids, averaging six 

 feet high and five feet through, evenly bloomed, and quite remarkable as masses of 

 colour. The varieties were Coronata, Magnificent, Sir C. Napier, Optima, Gled- 

 stanesi, Juliana, Conqueror, Variegata. Messrs. Veitch second with plants a little 

 less regular in training, and a size smaller all through. They were Iveiyana, 



