CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS FOR AUGU>^T. 



843 



CUmhhig plants must be fastened 

 as they advance. When they have 

 good growth upon them they are 

 very apt to weigh down and dis- 

 turb some of the fastening, espe- 

 cially Honeysuckles and Clematis, 

 which form large hanging heads, 

 and get confused, unless watched 

 and fastened as they grow. 



Cockscombs. — Continue the treat- 

 ment already recommended. By 

 this time the flower, which was 

 not so large as a button wJien the 

 plants were starvehngs two inclies 

 high, is increased as mucli as the 

 plant ; for the flower seems to 

 have the same power of growth as 

 the plant itself, and ramifies as 

 much. 



Dahlias. — Those who grow for 

 exhibition must watch all the open- 

 ing buds, and the instant they find 

 that a flower will not do they should 

 take it off. Every flower tliat opens 

 weakens the plant, and therefore 

 those who are careless of every- 

 thing but success, and sacrifice the 

 appearance "of the gai'den to the 

 shows, should not allow one to re- 

 main on tlie plant after it is found 

 useless. The hunting for vermin 

 and destroying them must not be 

 relaxed, for a single earwig would 

 destroy a bloom. Those who ima- 

 gine the covering with a flower-pot 

 on a flat tile will be an effectual 

 protection to the flower against 

 earwigs, must see that the pot is 

 perfectly level on the edge; not 

 one in twenty is so. But at some 

 of the potteries they make pots on 

 purpose, with no bottom, but a 

 groove to hold a round glass or a 

 round tile, according to whether 

 they want the cover dark or light. 

 Continue to take shoots off any 

 that you require to increase ; but 

 remember that the hotter the 

 weather the liotter must be your 

 striking frame, for the bottom 



heat ought to be as the top just to 

 promote strikintr, and this is the 

 great cause of difficulty in striking 

 late cuttings. Seedlings are be- 

 ginning to flower. The instant 

 you see that a plant will be useless 

 dig it up ; or, if your time is short, 

 chop it down, and do not miss a 

 day in examining. The great evil 

 to guard against is suffering your- 

 self to be tempted to leave a doubt- 

 fnl flower; for if you once do tliis 

 vou will find a quantity of things 

 about you just too bad to be worth 

 growing, and the desire of select- 

 ing a few will make you bestow 

 time and trouble that nothing will 

 repay. If a flower is not better 

 than anything we have already, or 

 tolerably good with an entirely new 

 colour, reject it at once ; it is in- 

 finitely better to see the ground 

 clear than cumbered with ordinary 

 flowers. It is necessary to lay 

 down a rule to begin with, and to 

 persevere with it, and that rule 

 should he to destroy everything 

 that is not decidedly new and good. 

 If you find any really desirable 

 flower set to work at once to take 

 cuttings, and propagate it, liecause 

 the sooner you hnve a stock the 

 better. Take tlie side-shoots as 

 soon as they are long enough, and, 

 as it is necessary to induce these 

 lateral shoots, it is well to stop one 

 or more of the branches by pinch- 

 ing off the ends. Take otf about 

 two good joints of the cuttings you 

 intend to strike, put them singly 

 in pots, and plunge the pots in the 

 hotbed to the rim. Keep the glass 

 pretty close until they liave struck, 

 watering, liowever, freely, and keep- 

 ing up the heat, but shading from 

 the mid-day sun. 



Dutch Gardens or Geometrical 

 Gardens. — Be ready with some 

 subjects to fill up vacancies in the 

 flower-beds. They should be turned 



