30G 



CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS FOR MARCH. 



already got. if any, will not have 

 been much the worse for keeping 

 if they have been put in the ground. 



Seedling Eases. — Sow seeds in 

 large pots or pans, in good rich 

 soil, strewing them thinly and just 

 covering them with sifted mould. 

 Care must be taken thattlie seeds, 

 when once sown, should never be 

 thoroughly dry, for alternations of 

 wet and dry would destroy them. 

 They should be set in a cold frame. 



Seedlings of last years sowing 

 must be cleared of weeds, and, if 

 any of them are budded, see that 

 the stocks are freed from all shoots 

 and buds of their own growth, as 

 they will, if allowed to grow, 

 greatly check the buds which are 

 on them. If any seedlings of last 

 year remain in the pans, and have 

 not been planted out in pots singly, 

 they should be potted now in size 

 sixty, or left to plant ou«t in the 

 open ground in May. 



THE GREENHOUSE. 



Azalea Indira. — The plants will 

 now be advancing very rapidly 

 towards blooming. If they are 

 merely required at the naturnl 

 season they may be submitted lo 

 the general conditions of the green- 

 house ; but at this season, if it is 

 required, a very little extra heat 

 and confinement will bring on their 

 flowers rapidly, and they may thus 

 be had in bloom at least a month 

 earlier than the natural season, 

 without anything like what is 

 termed '* forcing." "When the plants 

 have reached their present stage, 

 and the buds are progressing, it is 

 very important tliat they do not by 

 any chance become dry at the root, 

 which would cause their bloom- 

 buds to fall oflf, as well as many of 

 the older leaves. Shift any of the 

 blooming plants that require it as 

 soon as their flowers are faded : 



young plants not required for 

 blooming may be shifted at once. 



Botany Bay plants will many of 

 them be in bloom, and these must 

 be sufficiently supplied with water. 

 Young stock plants intended for 

 specimens should be repotted into 

 large pots as soon as they require 

 the additional space for their roots ; 

 and the branches of such plants 

 should, as soon as they grow a 

 little length, be topped, so as to 

 form a dense bushy plant. There 

 are but few exceptions to the 

 necessity of thus topping yoinig 

 plants to form bushy specimens ; 

 l>ut there are tliose subjects which 

 naturally assume a pyramidal form 

 of growth, as for example, Erio- 

 stemon Inixifuliimi, which should 

 not be topped at all. 



Calceolarias for late blooming 

 should be repotted now, the earlier 

 ones having had a good shift last 

 month. These plants are very 

 liable to be attacked by aphides, 

 which, unless speedily destroyed, 

 do them irreparable injury. Sup- 

 port the flowering stems of any of 

 the plants that are beginning to 

 produce them. 



Camellia Japonica. — The varie- 

 ties of tliis splendid evergreen 

 will now be many of them out of 

 flower. This we think a favour- 

 able time for repotting such as 

 need it ; for Camellias, be it re- 

 membered, especially when they 

 get into good-sized pots, stand for 

 three or four years without suflfer- 

 ing any injury. Young plants, of 

 course, if vigoi'ous and progressing 

 favourably, may have an annual 

 shift,^ which some prefer to give 

 in the autumn ; but we would rather 

 repot them just as the flowers 

 fade, and before the young shoots 

 elongate. Of course, at such a 

 juncture, it must not be rudely 

 done, so as to damage the roots, 



