340 



CALENDAR OP^ OPEEATIOXS FOR JULY. 



many plants will bear cutting 

 back to th<? joint we wish to start, 

 and thereby regulatinj^C as noar as 

 possible the form for the next 

 season. The greatest -error com- 

 mitted in tlie growth of plants is 

 exciting them too much, and not 

 cutting them back enough. 



General Eemnrlis.— The green- 

 house should be kept very clean — 

 all the shelves free from dead 

 leaves and fallen blooms. An 

 occasional washing of the shelves 

 is desirable, for if these, and the 

 corners in pai-ticular of shelves 

 and ledges, be left unwashed long 

 togetlier, they become the recep- 

 tacle of all kinds of vei'miu and 

 their eggs. The floor should be 

 kept well brushed out, and if in 

 consequence of cloudy wet weather 

 for some time the house gets 

 damp, light a fire and open the 

 house a little, that the plants that 

 remain in may have plenty of air, 

 wliile the temperature is raised to 

 dry it. Sliift such plants as have 

 filled their pots with roots to pots 

 a good size larger. 



We have noticed at many places 

 that the remedies for the destruc- 

 tion of vermin, or the prevention 

 of their attacks, and, indeed, for 

 many other things recommended 

 by gardeners, are pretended to be 

 tried, and have been said to fail, 

 when it has been entirely the fault 



of the experimentalist. In one 

 case they obtain the wrong mate- 

 rial, in other cases they use a pro- 

 posed mixture too strong, and 

 sometimes tliey omit some article 

 or some precaution which they 

 choose to tliink immaterial, when 

 it is of the hif.'hest importance. 

 Occasionally instructions are too 

 indefinite, as where you are in- 

 structed to take a pinch of tliis, a 

 handful of that, or a pennyworth 

 of the other. In one case we find 

 somebody who is to mix soot and 

 saltpetre in given quantities with 

 water of no given quantity, but to 

 the consistency of cream, and dip 

 the roots of plants in it before 

 planting to prevent their clubbing, 

 and who is outrageous because he 

 has killed all his plants. Now the 

 unfortunate operator, we have no 

 doubt, thought of nothing worse 

 than Devonshire cream, which is 

 but one remove from butter itself, 

 and so lost all the advantage of 

 the proper quantity of water. 

 Generally speaking, there are not 

 two articles in use more destruc- 

 tive to vermin in the ground, and 

 so nutritious to plants, than soot 

 and saltpetre, but if anything were 

 over-dosed with them they would 

 be fatal. The soot, however, may 

 not have been pure. At all events, 

 all persons practising from recipes 

 should be certain about quantities. 



