3-2S 



CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS FOR JUNE. 



fineraent then damages nothing : 

 the calyx is to be torn down to 

 the tie all round the bud at 

 each division. In blooming the 

 Pink the guard-leaves should be 

 guided down to their places — not 

 pulled out, but merely drawn 

 down so as to form a dish, as it 

 were, for the other petals. They 

 must be handled very lightly, for 

 they easily bruise ; and when once 

 damaged, however slightly, they 

 do not recover again. Many flo- 

 rists use a piece of round card, 

 •which they put on, and biing up 

 to the under part of the flower, to 

 keep up the guard or under petals, 

 and they put a glass over the 

 flower, and a shade on the glass, 

 in the heat of the summer days, 

 for it is necessary to keep out the 

 heat from the flower. The gi-ass 

 at the bottom of the Pink may be 

 thinned ofi", and the pieces struck, 

 or piped, as it is called ; they are 

 to be cut up to a joint, the bottom 

 leaves taken away full an inch 

 high up the stem ; the leaves are 

 not to be shortened. Now make 

 up a bed of rich light soil, and 

 saturate it with water, putting the 

 pipings in witliin an inch of each 

 other, in a square place that a 

 hand-glass will just cover, and 

 having given a little water to 

 settle tlie earth about the stems, 

 cover them up : they will require 

 no other attendance till they 

 strike, unless it be a little water 

 if the earth gets too diy. 



Manunculiises for exhibition 

 must now be shaded and well 

 watered ; but to be effective the 

 shading should be at a distance. 

 Upright poles or stakes, and a mat 

 wall so placed as to shade the 

 flowers effectually, all but an hour 

 in the morning, and as much 

 evening sun, is the best way of 

 doing it without drawing the 



flowers or making them weakly. 

 The colours are injured by cover- 

 ing. They want the light and air 

 as free as they can be given with- 

 out sun. The autumn-planted 

 Ranunculuses, wliich have begun 

 to turn yellow, should be taken 

 up. They frequently sufi'er from 

 vermin when left in the ground 

 too long. We have no business 

 to wait till the foliage decays ; 

 when it begins to turn yellow the 

 plant has done all it can, and the 

 sooner the tubers are up and 

 dried in the shade the better. 

 They should be placed to dry 

 under cover, where there is plenty 

 of air, but no sun, and when 

 thoroughly dry put away in a 

 very dry place, where they can be 

 easily examined now and then, to 

 see that they do not acquire any 

 damp. 



Seed-pods. — If these are to be 

 saved, let them be watched and 

 gathered as they approach the 

 lipening season ; but if seed be 

 not wanted every decaying flower 

 should be removed before the seed- 

 pods swell, for nothing so com- 

 pletely destroys the flowers of any- 

 thing as allowing the pods of seed 

 to swell instead of removing them. 

 Let one patch of Sweet Peas be 

 allowed to bloom, and not a flower 

 to be cut, and let another have 

 every flower cut off the instant it 

 begins to fade ; and those which 

 are allowed to seed Avill be com- 

 pletely out of flower and full of 

 the seed-pods, while the other con- 

 tinues to grow and bloom for 

 weeks afterwards. It is the same 

 with all flowers. 



Tender Plants. — Finish planting 

 out all the ordinary tender border 

 flowers, and also Geraniums, He- 

 liotropes, Verbenas, and Hydran- 

 geas. Balsams should be planted 

 out three in a patch, within six 



