1869.] SEASONABLE HINTS FOR AMATEURS. MAT. Ill 



SEASONABLE HINTS FOR AMATEURS.— MAY. 



HE severe weather which prevailed throughout the whole of March gave 

 vegetation a very salutary check ; fruit-tree buds were very little more 

 advanced at the end of the month than they were at the beginning, owing 

 to the low temperature and almost total absence of bright sunshine. The 

 season, which at one time promised to be early, will, should the cold weather 

 continue, be a late one : under favourable circumstances, it can hardly be a 

 very forward one. With the exception of Apricots, Peaches, and Nectarines, 

 all other kinds of fruit trees have been from a fortnight to three weeks later in 

 coming into flower, than they were last year. 



Most amateurs will be anxious, as soon as the weather is favourable, to get 

 their places planted and decorated. As much of the beauty of a flower garden 

 depends on the arrangement of the plants, this matter must be well considered, 

 and attended to in planting. Those who can winter a quantity of Pelargoniums, 

 can at once make their place gay and beautiful, there are now such a number of 

 kinds adapted for this purpose, some remarkable for the beauty of their foliage, 

 and others for the brilliance of their flowers. For most of the variegated 

 sorts, the soil in the beds should be of a good depth — at least 18 to 20 in. — and 

 it can hardly be made too rich. For the stronger-growing kinds of the plain- 

 leaved and zonals, no manure should be added to the soil, unless it be of a very 

 light, poor nature, when some might be put into it ; but it should be dug or 

 trenched to a good depth, so that the roots may be able to strike down to some 

 depth, which will enable the plants to stand dry weather without the constant 

 aid of the watering-can. Calceolarias are very easily wintered, and all amateurs 

 may with very little trouble have a good stock of them for planting. They 

 come early into flower and continue to bloom late in the season, and when 

 planted largely make a place look very gay and lively. All vacant spaces, either 

 in beds or borders, should be filled up with hardy or tender annuals. No garden 

 should be without Sweet Peas — they are so showy and ornamental, and are, 

 moreover, so useful for cutting from ; they may be grown in patches in mixed 

 borders, but must be rodded to support them ; they also make a good screen to 

 hide unsightly objects when grown in rows. Nasturtiums of all kinds are very 

 showy and ornamental, the creeping varieties being very useful for quickly cover- 

 ing bare places. The present is a good time to cultivate such spring flowers as 

 Aubrietias, Alyssums, Arabises, &c. Russian and Neapolitan Violets should now 

 be taken up and divided, and the runners planted about 10 in. apart every way 

 on a border in which some peat or leaf-soil has been worked in ; they do best on 

 borders that only get a few hours' sun in the morning and afternoon, and must 

 be kept well watered until they get well established ; during the summer the 

 runners must be kept pinched off, and the soil between the rows must be 

 occasionally stirred with a hoe. Wallflowers for next year should now be sown 



