i87r.] HINTS FOR AMATEURS. 359 



disappointment. The foliage should be preserved with all care. If 

 root treatment is put in practice at this season, great caution is neces- 

 sary not to overdo it. We could, if space would permit, give some 

 sad examples of reckless destruction of roots. All fruits should he as 

 well exposed to sun and air as circumstances will permit ; placing 

 the leaves on one side and tying them back may be done with advan- 

 tage. If trees are very heavily cropped, many of the fruit may be 

 thinned out for kitchen use, which will allow that which is left to 

 mature itself. Netting must have attention, otherwise the best por 

 tion of the fruit may be destroyed. Hexagon netting is excellent for 

 aU purposes, as flies and wasps are by it excluded. Bottles with beer 

 and sugar may trap many. Morello Cherries, Red and White Cur- 

 rants, Golden Drop and other late-hanging Plums, are a ready prey for 

 wasps at this season. Strawberries from which runners have been 

 potted and the fruit gathered may have aU runners, weeds, and dead 

 foliage cleared off, and a good hoeing, which will help them to prepare 

 for another season. Notwithstanding the objection I always have had 

 to mutilating the foliage of strawberry plants, I freely admit that 

 there are som.e, who are successful growers, who cut off every leaf 

 early in the autumn. The plants are again clothed with foliage before 

 winter, ready for next season's work. I intend, this season, to give 

 this practice an impartial trial, clearing off a few alternate rows in a 

 plot. I have often planted crowns from old plants with no foliage 

 left. They have become established before winter, and done well the 

 following season. 



The flower-garden and pleasure-ground will now be at their best ; 

 and to keep them neat and orderly much labour is necessary. Plants 

 growing over sides of borders and beds are untidy, and detract much 

 from the appearance of the garden. Staking and tying up tall-growing 

 plants, such as Hollyhocks, Dalilias, &c., must not be neglected. 

 Great damage is often sustained at this season from wind. Geraniums 

 and other close-growing plants may have grown thickly together : 

 judicious thinning will be necessary, keeping the best of the shoots 

 for cuttings. Pelargoniums root weU in the open borders ; but when 

 placed in pots and boxes fidl in the sun, they can be easily removed 

 under cover, and arranged for the winter. Verbenas, Salvias, Helio- 

 tropes, &c., do well in frames — at first kept close and shaded from 

 sun ; and when growth begins, air and light are given, till they can 

 be freely exposed and hardened for the winter. Sandy loam and leaf- 

 mould answer well for most things; plenty of drainage should be placed 

 in the boxes and pots, keeping the rougher part of the soil downwards, 

 and making it finer at the surface. Early-budded Roses may now re- 

 quire to be relieved of their ties, but only where the buds are taking 



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