MONTHLY CALENDAR. 5i0 



removing the cuttings direct from the plants, with all their leaves on, and 

 placing them full in the sun out of doors without any shade or protection 

 whatever. They may either be planted in the natural ground, six inc>.es 

 apart, on a prepared border, or in pots or boxes ; and success will be alike 

 certain, with less than one per cent. loss. I will describe the details of my 

 own practice next month. 



1712. Dahlias will now reqviire careful tying, disbudding, and thinning of 

 the shoots, where first-rate flowers >re required ; a good soaking of manure- 

 ■iv-ater in dry weather will also be most serviceable to them. The blooms of 

 hollyhocks may be much prolonged by similar treatment. Every offset of the 

 best varieties ought to be inserted as cuttings, and previously-rooted cuttings 

 of hollyhocks planted in the reserve-garden. 



1713. JRoses. — Perpetuals may still be cut back with the hope of a third 

 bloom ; and late-budded plants will require looking after, watering, and 

 training to stakes. 



1714. Pot off layers of carnations as fast as rooted, water spai'ingly, and 

 place in a cold frame for a few days until they make a fresh start. 



1 7 15. Plant out in beds early-rooted pansy- cuttings, insert a succession 

 of cutttings, and prick out seedlings in the reserve-garden. Here also let 

 seedling polyanthuses, offsets of these and auriculas, be planted on rich 

 shady beds. Stocks sown in pans, or in the reserve-garden, in August, will 

 now be fit either to pot off and place in frames until established, or to prick 

 out on shady beds in this department. The first sowing of hardy annuals to 

 stand the winter in the open air should also be made towards the end of the 

 month. Prepare beds for and plant out pinks for next year's blooming ; hunt 

 for and destroy eai'wigs on dahlias, hollyhocks, &c., and see that everything 

 is being prepared by a season of healthy growth to meet the trials and storms 

 of winter, as well as to add to the loveliness and increase the glory of this 

 delightful autumnal month.— D. T. F. 



§ 3.— Harmonious Colouring in Flower-beds. 



1716. " Softness without melancholy, and brilliance without glare," is 

 Foster's eloquent definition of a summer's morning. Such would also be an 

 appropriate description of a well-managed and properly-grouped flower- 

 garden. For the last few months, a perfect deluge of beauty has been sweep- 

 ing its enchanting course over the surface of the world. No one can help 

 being amazed at the power which could thus, in a few weeks, by means 

 which none can perfectly understand, enwrap the universe in a rich robe o. 

 varied glory. All the endless varieties of soil and climate, — from the regions 

 of frigid snow to those of burning sands, — have theu' own peculiar vegetation, 

 staining the snow with a blood-red colour, or relieving the arid waste with a 

 sprig of green moss. But while the whole earth is more or less covered with 

 beauty, each garden should be a focus, concentrating into one ardent beam 



