MONTHLY CALENDAR. 625 



and economical consideration, urges the propriety of early housing. Tho 

 plants themselves will express their gratitude in that best and most expressive 

 of all language — a look of perfect health, made manifest by glossy foliage 

 and handsome flowers. They will adorn your houses in winter with a summer 

 wreath of beauty, and in the fulness of their gratitude transform their fair 

 proprietress — at Christmas time — into so many lovely Queens of May. 



1964. In reward for all this, see that any plant, from the gorgeous gay 

 camelUa to the humblest denizen of next yeai-'s flower-garden, is placed in safe 

 cfiiaHers at once. I say safe, not warm quarters : the latter would be most 

 unsafe. Plants that have stood for months in the free air of heaven are 

 most impatient of confinement. Unless the wind is very cutting, or the ther- 

 mometer is under 40°, the houses should stand open night and day for 

 several weeks after the plants are admitted ; otherwise the sudden change of 

 tempei-ature would either cause flower-buds to drop, or excite to premature 

 wood-growth, — the probability being that it would do both. 



1965. All plants are liable to injmy from this cause,— camellias perhaps 

 more than any other. Sudden transitions from an open, free, — to a close, con- 

 fined atmosphere, — rapid alternations of temperature, and either extremes of 

 wet or dry at root or top, are the main, if not the only, causes of flower-buds 

 dropping in this beautiful species. But the causes that influence this plant 

 so powerfully and suddenly afi"ect all others in a greater or less degree. Hence 

 the importance of adopting, in all changes with plants, the slidinc/scale 

 system. The change from a low to a high, or a high to a low temperature, — 

 from a dry to a moist, or a moist to a dry atmosphere, must be gradual and 

 easy. In one word, the length of the scale must be adapted to the extent 

 of the change contemplated ; and the smaller the angle of inclination and 

 the slower the plants progress fi-om one elevation to another, the better tho 

 chance of perfect success, 



1966. Those gardeners who treat their plants as ''Punch "did the farmers 

 in his famous free-trade caricatures, must expect to see them go pell-mell 

 to ruin ; but those who treat them as the farmers were ti-eated in fact, 

 will find every change effected in their condition contribute to their health, 

 strength, and well-being. The cultivator cannot afford to forget these princi- 

 ples at any period of the year ; but their application is of the first importance 

 during the operation of housing plants for the winter. The plants should 

 also be thoroughly cleaned, pots washed, and top-dressed if they require it as 

 they are introduced into the houses. A great deal may also be done, by 

 proper arrangement, to give an air of order and design, — which in themselves 

 have much of the charm of beaut3\ Some people contend that there is more in 

 the manner of speaking than in the matter uttered. However much of truth 

 •or falsehood — and I believe there are both in this, it is certain that there is often 

 more beauty and satisfaction derived from the orderly arrangement of plants 

 than from the plants themselves. The very same principles are applicable 

 here that we have laid down for the embellishing of flower-gardens. The 

 widely different circumstances will modify the practice, but the same leading 



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