336 



CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS FOR JULY 



is done, although some do it when 

 their bloom is done. 



Pansy. — Continue to strike 

 side-shoots and make new beds. 

 Water well in dry weather, shade 

 the individual blooms required to 

 be preserved, stir between young 

 plants. Plant out seedlings, and 

 sow seed as fast as it ripens ; but 

 if you have any regard for the 

 quality of your seedlings, mark the 

 best blooms only to save seed 

 from, and sow as soon as you pick 

 it. You can hardly have it at a 

 wrong season, because they will 

 stand the winter, and it is a matter 

 of total indifference whether they 

 tiower in spring, Midsummer, or 

 Michaelmas. There is no time 

 of the year in which you may 

 not strike the side - shoots of 

 Pansies, and they make the best 

 plants. 



Paths. — The principal enemies 

 to paths are worms and weeds, 

 and they must not be allowed to 

 get ahead, or tliey will be very 

 troublesome. The worm casts 

 look ugly, and when swept ofi" you 

 are just as sure to find as many 

 the next morning. Lime water 

 makes the path white for a while 

 after drying, but it is the best 

 thing you can use. Fill a good 

 watering-pot, and with a rose 

 water among the casts ; for the 

 holes being open, and the worms 

 not far below the first thing in the 

 morning, it generally settles all it 

 reaches. The weeds must be hoed 

 up or pulled up ; for, if the old 

 remedy of salt and water be 

 applied, it runs down to the side 

 of the path, and kills grass or Box 

 at once if it be there. 



Lawns. — Mow once a fortnight, 

 and sweep off the grass directly, 

 for if it lays an hour or two in hot 

 w^eather it turns the grass under 

 it yellow. Fork up the earth that 



is open round the specimens, and 

 keep them clear of weeds. 



Petunias. — These may be still 

 planted out ; they help to fill the 

 borders with Howers. Those first 

 planted out want cutting back or 

 removing ; the young ones will 

 very soon flower. Cuttings may 

 be struck under a hand-glass in 

 the border, though heat at bottom 

 rather hastens the striking; but 

 the present planting out will be 

 suflicient for the season. Seed- 

 lings may be planted out in beds, 

 that they may be the more easily 

 managed and marked when ex- 

 amined. 



Phlox Drummondi, as well as 

 the j)erennlals, may be shifted from 

 small pots to larger, and all that 

 are not required in pots may be 

 turned out in the borders. Phlox 

 Drummondi makes an interesting 

 plant well grown, and comes 

 many different colours. Side cut- 

 tings, when young and struck, may 

 be kept through the winter, and 

 thus the annual rendered almost a 

 perennial. 



Pinks. — The pipings that have 

 rooted may be planted out in 

 nursery-beds as near as three 

 inches in the row, and six inches 

 from row to row; but when they 

 have grown strong enough they 

 must be removed to the beds they 

 are to bloom in ; at least, all the 

 beds you care to grow well and 

 in good colour must be made up 

 and planted in August or Sep- 

 tember for choice, though many 

 delay until it is too late to get 

 bloom of any sort. 



Polyanthuses. — If these are not 

 already parted let it be delayed 

 no longer. They should have 

 been parted by tlie middle of last 

 month, but they may yet make 

 good plants in good ground, with 

 the help of a good autumn. Seed- 



