MONTHLY CALENDAR. 357 



1013. WTiero bedding-out is practised, this is a busy montb ; let all be 

 done according to a well-digested plan, in whicli the height and distance, 

 as well as the colour of every plant and every bed, are previously determined; 

 for the next few weeks will be devoted to filling up the flower-garden 

 beds and clumps intended for the summer and autumn display. Every 

 exertion should be made to get the planting-out completed with all possible 

 despatch ; and, premising the plants intended for each bed have been pre- 

 viously determined and hardened off, no great difficulty will now be met with 

 in filling them up. If an early display is wanted, they must be planted rather 

 thicker, and need not be stopped ; if not before a later period in the summer, 

 plant somewhat thinner ; and the flower-buds should be pinched off as they 

 appear, till the plants have filled the beds. 



1014. Select a shady border, and give it a good dressing of rotten dung or 

 leaf soil ; slightly fork in for planting with the runners of the different kinds 

 of violets for forcing. The Neapolitan is the best for frames or pots, and 

 the runners will now be found in a proper state for removing : plant them 8 

 or 10 inches apart, water them abundantly in dry weather, and pinch off the 

 runners as they appear : if the soil is rich and open, they will grow into stout 

 bushy plants by the autumn, and may then either be potted or planted into 

 pits for forcing. 



1015. Stake or peg down such plants as require it, as the planting proceeds, 

 or the wind will break many things off. Plant out in rich soil a good supply 

 of stocks and asters for the autumn ; and sow a succession of annuals for 

 making up any vacancies which may occur, and Hkewise another sowing £ 

 mignonette in pots for rooms or for filling window-boxes. 



1016. Bulbous Roots and Tubers intended for removal should be taken up as 

 their leaves decay. Even those which are usually left in the ground should be 

 taken up every two or three years, and their offsets, which will have grown 

 into large bunches, should be separated, if large and handsome flowers are 

 desired. When the offsets are detached from the principal bulb, it is 

 desirable to give it a season of rest. This treatment is necessary for all 

 bulbs. The principal one, planted in its season, flowers with renewed vigour; 

 and the offsets, in time, form new plants. The proper time for removing the 

 various narcissuses, jonquils, irises, tuhps, and hyacinths, and all other bulbs, 

 is the season when the leaves and stems begin to decay ; for then the roots 

 are in a state of rest : if left in the ground three or four weeks later, they put 

 forth fibres and buds for the following year's bloom, thus wasting their strength 

 fruitlessly. 



1017. Tender Annuals, such as cockscombs, balsamines, amaranthus, egg- 

 plants, and others, wanted early or in large plants, should now be shifted 

 to another hotbed previously prepared for them, either on the surface of the 

 grovmd or in a trench of the size of the frame. When ready, plunge the pot 

 into the soil, cover the bottom with the proper drainage, and half-fill it with 

 fresh compost ; then take the plant from the old pot with its ball of earth, and 

 place it in the centre, filling it in all round /vith fresh earth to within half an 



