176 GARDEN MANAGEilENT. 



It may thus occasionally happen that a part or the whole of the work prescribed 

 for one month, may have to be deferred to another, and tlius a double portion 

 fall upon one or any of the winter or spring months. In such cases, extra 

 labour must be employed, or diverted from other departments, until the whole 

 of the work indicated is completed. There is a difference of several weeks in 

 the climate of different parts of the country ; operations that should be per- 

 formed at once in the South, may thus generally be deferred for several weeks 

 in the North. The term flower-garden seems almost a misnomer at this 

 season. But now is the time to consider what can be done to prepare the 

 garden for the return of our favourites ; nor does its rough surface detract from 

 then- smooth and tender beauty.* 



420. Xow is the time to bring it into harmony with its refined and polished 

 occupants. Is its shape uncouth, fantastic, and unmeaning ?— let it at once be 

 reduced to congi-uous design and elegant taste ; is the garden too small !— en- 

 large it ; is the soil exhausted ?— renew it ; is it naturally poor ?— enrich it ; is 

 the situation bad ?— choose a better ; in a word, do any and every thing that 

 industry suggests, foresight approves, and enhghtened judgment commends, to 

 furnish your plants on their return with all that is needful to add additional 

 beauty and glory to their lives. I have already recommended all new flower- 

 gardens to be trenched, and would now prescribe the same treatment for old 

 ones. No soil, however rich in quality, will go on producing flowers in per- 

 fection for years, with an annual digging in autumn or spring, and frequent 

 hoein^^s and rakings in summer : this practice soon exhausts the best soil. 

 Nothing benefits old gardens more than the entire removal of the old plants, 

 trenching up the soil to the depth of three feet, Hberally manuring it, and 

 replanting. Gardens furnished on the modern grouping system should be 

 trenched every fourth or sixth year. The plants would then be much less at 

 the mercy of the extremes of drought or wet, and have a more copious supply 

 of suitable food. 



42 1. The operation of trenching, simple as it appears, is often so indifferently 

 performed, as to be of doubtful utility. I have seen the best of soils thrown 

 into the bottom of the trench, and a foot of sterile clay brought to the surface. 



• The seasonal directions bein;: calculated for the meridian of London, it may b© 

 useful to the reader, if we quote the comparative heat of the snn at several degrees of 

 latitude, from the Eev. John Lawrence's " Pleasures and Profits of Gardening, lOOO 

 being the unit, of which the following are parts : — 



Places. Latitude. junflO 



Lyons -^6 8S0 



Paris 10 814 



The Lizard 50 800 



London 51% 777 



Bedford 52 770 



Northampton 52% 767 



Boston 53 757 



Lincoln 53A 753 



York 54 743 



Newcastle 55 726 



Edinburgh 56 711 



