MONTHLY CALENDAR. 671 



pleted, and the formation and repair of new shrubberies brought to a close 

 during the month. For the purpose of renovation the necessity of a reserve- 

 garden cannot be too strongly urged. Most herbaceous plants blossom incom- 

 parably finer from young plants propagated betimes than from old and 

 exhausted ones, such as we see generally in the pleasure-grounds. With a re- 

 serve-garden in which the best shrubs are coming forward, alterations are 

 easily made : where overgrown branches have to be cut back and thinned, the 

 operation must be performed gradually, and a portion headed down every 

 season until the whole is renovated and covered with young foliage. When 

 headed down and in a proper state of luxuriance, keep it so. Nothing looks 

 worse than a mass of rambling overgrown shrubs, with large heads and a 

 confused array of naked ugly stems. 



C083. Among the shrubby flowering-plants one only meets with in the best 

 gardens, but which might be cultivated everywhere, we may mention the 

 magnolias ; they are natives of North America, China, and Japan ; have a 

 noble foliage and wonderfully beautiful flowers, and some of them a powerful 

 and most agreeable fragrance. The^. flourish well in a compost of good loam, 

 peat, and decomposed leaves. The grandifloras, all three American, are per- 

 fectly hardy, flourishing luxuriantly in the open border even when exposed to 

 cold and cutting winds. No garden should be without them. 



2084. Aralia japonica is another splendid shrub from Japan, of rich foliage, 

 and throwing out numerous expanded clusters of bloom of whitish-green 

 colour, each cluster being composed of several spikes of bloom 18 inches long, 

 divei^ing from a common centre : it requires a sheltered spot in the garden, 

 however. The spiraeas are another highly ornamental family of shi-ubs, some 

 of them adapted for rock- work, as aS^. prunifolm ; others for planting behind 

 smaller shrubs, when the long spikes of bloom bend gracefully forwards, like 

 S. Lindleyana ; others of the genus are dwarf shrubs of good habit, and bloom 

 in rich spikes both of white and pink flowers, in great abundance. 



•20S5. Florists' Floicers. — At this season of the year the amateur cannot 

 do better than get together those soils, &c., which are indispensable for the 

 proper growth of his favourite flowers. Where there is an opportunity of so 

 doing, turf, pared two inches thick from a loamy pasture or a green-lane side, 

 stacked together to decompose, will be the foundation of his composts. A 

 large heap of melon-bed manure should also be secured, not forgetting as 

 large a quantity of fallen leaves as possible. A cartload of sharp river-sand 

 is an indispensable adjunct, and the florist should look out for willow-dust and 

 decayed and rotten sticks. A quantity of excellent food for plants m.ay bo 

 scraped out from hedge-bottoms. Allow auriculas to have abundance of air, 

 but little or no moisture : the plants being in a state of rest, require but little. 

 Tulips now out of the ground sufler every day. 



2086. Auriculas are now in their winter quarters ; they require abundant 

 air, and occasional inspection to see that no worms are in the pots ; the indi- 

 cations being castings on the surface ; if such appear, water them with lim«- 

 water, or remove them by repotting. 



