MONTHLY CALENDAR. 547 



althougli the tea-scented and perpetual roses still remam to perfume the air 

 with their fragrance, and along with them some very old-fashioned favourites. 

 The arbutus, or strawberry-tree, the most ornamental of autumn-flowering 

 shrubs, it remains to add to our Christmas enjoyments, when it shows itsell 

 in fruit and flower at the same time. The hydrangea also exhibits its rich 

 clusters of pink and purplish rose-coloured flowers ; for we are not aware that 

 the desiderated blue hydrangea has yet responded to the florist's efforts. The 

 gentians also are very old favourites, and are rich in the luxmiance of their 

 second bloom in September ; — 



*' Flowers which fringe the Alpine glaciers. 

 But they never take the hue 

 Of the ice-field or the snow-flake, — 

 Theirs is the heaven's own blue." 



1708. The reduction of temperature begins to be felt this month, less, how- 

 ever, by night than by day, the mean temperature of the air being 66-14° ; 

 one foot below the surface, 57'54° ; and two feet, 57'89° ; being, from this 

 month till April, warmer at two feet than at one foot. The average fall of 

 rain is also increased considerably, falling more in the night than in the day. 

 It abounds, however, in delicious autumnal days, when the air, the sky, and 

 the earth seem lulled into universal calm, — softer and milder even than in 

 May. The harvest-moon — 



*♦ With broad-expanded face receives 

 The western sun's departing rays, 

 And back returns the full-orb'd blaze.'* 



§ 2.— Flo wee-Garden and Shrubbery. 



1 709. Now that the beds are thoroughly covered, nothing contributes more 

 to that high style of keeping that constitutes the chief charm of every garden 

 than the removal of every dead flower and leaf as fast as it appears ; the 

 maintenance of neat edgings, and sharply-defined lines of colom'ed or ribbon 

 borders, or beds planted on the ring principle. Generally, it would be bad 

 taste, except in beds planted on the pincushion system, to allow one colour to 

 run into the other. There are, however, exceptions to this rule, and two of the 

 most eflective rows on a ribbon border that I have ever seen were the varie- 

 gated alyssums and Purple King verbena allowed to blend and intermix at 

 their point of union. 



1 7 10. Eegularity of height is also another desideratum too, and proof of high 

 keeping. Not that every bed, or every part of a bed, should be of one dead 

 uniform height, but they should either present a level or an even surface. 

 Suppose, for instance, a bed is raised in the middle, as a rule it should gra- 

 dually fall towards the sides, and the same parts of the bed should be of the 

 same height. If the edging is six inches high, it should be this height ail 

 round ; if the second row is nine inches, it should be nine inches throughout, 

 and so on. Nothiug is more indicative of a want of judgment in planting or 



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