MONTHLY CALENDAR. 359 



frosts, are covered with mats. These protecting coverings are now only kept 

 at hand ready to throw on when their shelter is required either from the sun 

 or from sudden showers and hailstorms. By this means the blooming season 

 for these gems of the flower-garden may be prolonged for a fortnight or three 

 weeks, and their brilliancy increased. 



1022. When these choice bulbs are past flowering, and the leaves begin to 

 decay, let the roots be taken up and spread out to dry and harden, in soiUe 

 dry shady place for a fortnight or three v/eeks ; the roots trimmed, cler.nod, 

 and deposited upon shelves or in boxes, till required for replanting in autumn. 

 Others recommend that the bulbs should be recommitted to the earth, not 

 planted out, but placed on their sides in a bed of dry soil, and the roots 

 covered for two or three weeks, during which the moisture of the bulbs will 

 gradually exhale, and the bulbs dry and harden without shrivelling or rotting. 

 From this bed they are removed in a dry day, the stalk-leaves trimmed off, 

 and the bulb well cleaned, then spread out in a dry shady place till perfectly 

 dry, when they are put away till required. 



1023. Spring crocus, snowdrops, crown imperials, and all other flowering- 

 bulbs, should also bo taken up when the leaves decay. It should especially 

 be practised in the case of bulbs which have remained in the ground two or 

 three years and increased by offsets into large bunches. These offsets are 

 detached from the principal stem, and each planted separately. The larger 

 roots, planted again, bloom the following year, and offshoots will probably 

 bloom the year after. This month, or the following, it will be proper to 

 remove the autumn-flowering bulbs, such as the colchicums and autumnal 

 crocus, which have now ceased to grow. All these removals must be mado 

 in dry weather, and the offsets carefully separated, and either planted again 

 immediately, or spread out to dry, and stored till August, when they are 

 to be planted again. 



1024. Dahlias potted off last month, and hardened by exposure, may bo 

 planted out about the third week. If the pots are getting too small for the 

 growing plants, it is better to re-pot them in larger pots than to lalant out too 

 early. 



1025. A^iriculas going out of bloom should be placed in a shady place, if in 

 pots, and receive shade from the sun, if in beds. 



1026. Carnations and Picoiees in pots should at this time have every assist- 

 ance given them ; sticks should be placed to support the stalks towards the 

 end of the month, the plants watered in dry weather and kept clean, the soil 

 occasionally stirred, and kept free fi'om dead leaves, and a sprinkling of fine 

 fresh soil added occasionally. All the side-stalks rising from the stem should 

 be taken off, leaving none but the top buds ; shading the pots from the mid- 

 day sun. Pinks, as well as carnations and picotees in beds, require the same 

 •treatment. 



1027. P««s?Vs may be planted for successional beds in a north border, in 

 which spring seedlings may be used. Plants in bloom should be shaded at 

 noon in sunny days, and well watered in the evenings. Blooms not required 



