854 



CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS FOR SEPTEMBER. 



blown oJ0f its standard or stem — an 

 accident by no means uncommon 

 where the stake is fast to the stem, 

 and the head not well secured or 

 reduced in weight; but it will not 

 be right to prime it close, for tlie 

 winter frosts will often kill the 

 ends of the branches an eye or 

 two back. All the hanging branches 

 on jnllar, wall, festooned, or arched 

 Roses should be fastened in their 

 places or removed : nothing ought 

 to be loose. 



Cut tin (IS may be taken of all 

 the China and Bourbon sorts; in 

 fact, of all the smooth -barked 

 kinds. Let the pots in which 

 they are to be struck be filled 

 with soil, all but an inch, which 

 incli must be sand ; prepare the 

 cuttings l)y taking off all the wood 

 below the joint it is intended to 

 insert, and put these cuttings into 

 the sand low enougb to touch the 

 mould, but not enter it. The 

 sand should be completely satu- 

 rated with wet, and, when all the 

 cuttings are in, watered to settle 

 it close to the stems. These may 

 be placed in slight bottom heat, 

 and be covered with bell-glasses 

 tbat touch the sand and keep 

 them air-tight. Cuttings may also 

 be placed in the open border, not 

 more than two inches apart in the 

 rows, and the rows six inches 

 from each other. Trim the Roses 

 that are still in bloom by cutting 

 out weakly wood, but not mate- 

 rially affecting the branches left 

 on, which should be the stronger 

 ones. 



Seedlings, and young Roses in 

 beds, must be weeded and watered, 

 and any that are flowering may be 

 propagated or rejected as they 

 deserve. Tt is useless to preserve 

 any second-rate flowers; they are 

 better tlirown away, for tbey only 

 perplex and vex the grower, who 



liad better never boast at all of 

 raising seedlings than boast of 

 raising inferior ones. 



THE GREEKHOUSE. 



Prepare the houses for the recep- 

 tion of plants, which must be tied 

 and trained in the form they are 

 wanted before they are placed in 

 the houses; examine their drain- 

 age ; see whether any want a shift 

 to larger pots. "When such is 

 the case let there be a sufficient 

 difference in the size to enable 

 you to thrust down the soil solid 

 between the ball and the pot, or 

 the plant will suffer. At this 

 period the plants have, for the 

 most part, made their growth and 

 set for bloom ; therefore, unless 

 they are pretty full of roots, it 

 is not desirable to shift them, 

 for they get occasionally excited 

 into growth instead of flower ; 

 the leaf-germs, that would lie 

 dormant until after flowering, be- 

 come excited and grow, and, hy 

 taking away the nourishment from 

 the germs of flowers, they decline, 

 shiivel, and disappear in dust and 

 scales. But we must particularise 

 a few plants. 



Azalea Indica. — These noble 

 plants may be all placed in their 

 pits, 01-, if too large for pits, in the 

 cool part of the greenhouse. They 

 will, however, be better kept cool 

 all the winter. They want no fire 

 heat, but they must not be damp. 

 All the small newly-struck ones 

 must be potted in small pots. If 

 the plants are to go up pyramid 

 shape they must be left to gi'ow 

 their own way, all but checking 

 side-shoots as soon as they have 

 grown enough, and stopping any 

 branch that is growing too strong. 

 Where you design the plant to 

 be short and bushy the top must 

 be taken off, when it is first potted, 



