MONTHLY CALENDAR. 179 



Dui'ing- heavy autumn rains and the cold of winter, they should receive the 

 protection of a cold frame. If sown thin enough, they may remain in the 

 same pans during the fii-st summei*. When their foliage dies down in the 

 autumn, they should be shaken out of the soil, and carefully planted in beds 

 of mellow loam in the reserve garden, placing the bulbs about 2 inches 

 apart and 3 deep. Here they will form strong bulbs during the third 

 summei', and a few of them may flower, the most of them, however, deferring 

 to do so until the fourth spring. Crocuses are very accommodating in reference 

 to the depth at which they are planted ; from 4 to 6 inches is, perhapS; 

 the best average. When they are planted in beds devoted to bedding-plants, 

 they will reach the sm-face and flower, if inserted four times that depth. As 

 the young bulbs are formed on the top of the old ones, they thus possess a 

 gelf-elevating power. Crocuses will flower freely for many years without being- 

 disturbed. The best growers, however, recommend dividing and replanting 

 every third or fifth year. To secm-e perfect blooms, the foliage must be left 

 to die down of its own accord. If planted in ribbon-beds, the following 

 arrangement would look well : — Back row, David Rizzio, large purple ; 2nd 

 row, largest yellow ; 3rd row, Flos niger, fine large blue ; 4th row, Jlont 

 Blanc, or any other pure white : or the order may be reversed, or confined to 

 three colours only, — yellow, blue, and white, or xice versd. On wide borders, 

 the same order may be repeated as often as necessary. The great point in 

 this style of planting is to choose distinct selfs only, and not varieties of 

 various colours. A row of snowdrops is often very effective in juxtaposition 

 with a row of blue crocuses. The following are among the best varieties of 

 this charming bulb ; the price varies from Is. 6d. to 3s. a hundred, and October 

 is the best month for procuring and planting them, although they may still 

 be inserted this month: — Aletta, Willi elmine, Argent, Bride of Albion, 

 Blucher, Bride of Lammermoor, Charles Dickens, Caroline Chisholm, Cloth 

 of Silver, David Rizzio, General Todtleben, La Plus Belle, Lord Raglan, 

 Mrs. B. Stowe, Prince of Wales, Passelonto, Sir J. Franklin (very large, but 

 loose), Sir W. Scott, and Victoria Regina. Attend carefully to store pots and 

 boxes ; keep them as handy as possible ; look over the entire stock, and see 

 if any and what increase maybe necessary. 



427. Place verbenas that are to be propagated from into a gentle heat, and 

 prepare a slight hotbed for striking cuttings. All bedding-plants will bear a 

 much stronger heat while they are striking in the spring than in the autumn,, 

 and verbenas will root in a week, placed in a close pit, with a bottom-heat of 

 from 80° to 90°. 



428. Place scarce varieties of dahlias in heat, for the purpose of securing 

 plenty of cuttings. Proceed with potting off" singly all cuttings in store pots, 

 using 4S-sized pots for geraniums, and large 60 for verbenas, kc, where abun- 

 dance of sjDace is available. Where tliis is not the case, the potting-ofF must 

 be deferred till another month. 



4?9. Prepare a good stock of soil, clean pots. No. sticks, labels, stakes, 

 &c., in bad weather, so that there may be no hmdrance for these purposes. 



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