302 



CALKNDAK OF OPERATIONS FOR MARCH. 



dwarf prostrate habit, may now be 

 grafted. 



Carnations and Picotees will re- 

 quire the most strict attention. 

 Tliey must not yet be watered more 

 than is absolutely necessary for 

 their actual preservation. If the 

 soil be wet the plants will be 

 in danger from damp, for they are 

 far more susceptible of cold, and 

 when attacked by frost the fibres 

 are more liable to damage ; be- 

 sides which, the fibres are now 

 growing fast, and are therefore 

 young and soft. 



Chrysanthemums. — Plant out, 

 and increase by dividing the 

 suckers from the roots. Tliey luxu- 

 riate in a rich soil of loam and 

 cowdung. Plant a few against 

 walls, terraces, or railings. 



Climbers which have been pro- 

 tected must be uncovered gradu- 

 ally ; they must be kept covered i^t 

 night. Prune them, and tie or 

 nail the best ripened branches. 



Crocus. — .Mark tlie best varie- 

 ties, so as to know them at the 

 time of taking up the bulbs. Keep 

 the soil about them fresli and clean. 



Dahlias. — Those which are not 

 yet potted and set to work may 

 be done at once. Put them in 

 pots no larger than necessary ; and, 

 indeed, some of the tubers may 

 be cut away, to prevent the neces- 

 sity of using one too large. Here 

 they will throw up their shoots 

 from the collar when they are put 

 into heat, and the cuttings must 

 be taken oflf vhen about three pairs 

 of leaves long. Those who have 

 followed our previous directions 

 by this time have cuttings well 

 rooted. If they are in pots hold- 

 ing more than one, they must be 

 placed in pots singly ; and if any 

 of them are of scarce kinds, which 

 you are desirous of propagating, 

 they may have their tops cut otf 



just below the third pair of leaves, 

 and these tops may be struck as 

 other cuttings. The plants will 

 strike out shoots on bf)th sides, 

 which in turn may be shortened ; 

 and thus an early-struck cutting 

 may be maile the means of pro- 

 ducing a number of plants, which 

 is occasionally a great object, al- 

 though it does not produce thera 

 so strong nor so serviceable as 

 those of the first strike from tuber 

 shoots. It is questionable, also, 

 whether a plant so produced will 

 bloom so well, although there are 

 kinds that do not suffer from such 

 treatment. All the cuttings, struck 

 and not struck, should be watered 

 daily over the foliage as well as 

 tlieir roots, and be shut up and 

 shaded for a few hours. It is a 

 very good plan to water in the 

 evening at shutting-up time. 



As tliose plants which are not 

 intended to be cut down grow 

 strong, they should be removed to 

 a cooler frame, that they may be- 

 come gradually more hardened ; 

 for, although nothing short of frost 

 will hurt them when prepared 

 by cooling gradually, they would 

 sufi'er considerably if taken from 

 a hotbed to the open air direct. 

 In potting the tubers for breaking 

 the buds to form cuttings, every 

 appearance of decay, however 

 slight, should be removed, even if 

 it cause two- thirds of the roots 

 to be cut away. Seedling tubers 

 that are to be planted whole may 

 be at once put into the ground 

 four inches deep : they will not 

 come up before the time they will 

 bear the weather. 



Evergreens may be ti'ansplanted 

 now, but we prefer the early part 

 of autumn. 



Fuchsias. — Partially uncover 

 those in sheltered situations, cut 

 the shoots back to fresh buds, 



