MONTHLY CALENDAR. 701 



circumstances, three or four years must elapse before the same point could 

 be reached by sowing : all that is necessary is to make the surface of the re- 

 quired shape, unroll the turf close together, beat it firmly down, and fre- 

 quently roll it, and the work is finished, 



2195. The next best method of covering ground with grass is what is 

 termed inocidation. Pieces of turf are torn, not cut into pieces, — say two 

 inches square, and thrown on to the ground, leaving interstices of the same 

 distance, or less or more, between them. Grass-seed is then sown over the 

 ground, and the whole firmly beaten down. It is astonishing how soon a 

 splendid tm-f is thus formed, 



2196. The jDruning of deciduous trees and shrubs should also be proceeded 

 with, unless during severe frost. Most evergreens are best pruned in April, 

 Nevertheless, as that is a busy, and this a comparatively leisure season, the 

 hardiest evergreens, such as laurels, &c., may be pruned now ; any, however, 

 that require cutting down, had better be left till that period. We prune mainly 

 for three leading purposes ; to improve the shape, curtail size, and to 

 induce a profusion of bloom or fruitfulness. The first is entirely a matter of 

 taste; the second of space ; and the third the primary object, for which all 

 flowering shrubs and trees are cultivated: the two first are entii-el)' effected 

 by pruning the top ; the last is more eflfectually secured by cutting in the 

 roots. This latter does not necessarily, however, supersede the former ; often 

 both may proceed simultaneously with advantage. One of the chief points in 

 the management of shrubberies is so to prune them and cut down the plants as 

 always to preserve a dense thick bottom. The digging, pointing, top-dress- 

 ing, and cleaning of old shrubberies, should also be proceeded with, the turf 

 frequently swept and rolled, the gravel kept scrupulously clean, and every 

 possible thing done to make this outside %cinter garden attractive and useful 

 during the bleak winter and spring months, 



2197. Flower-Garden. — The beds here, disrobed of their summer beauty, 

 •will either be furnished with shrubs, herbaceous plants, annuals, or bulbs, 

 or simply roughed up for the winter. Previous to either being done, it is 

 hoped that they received a liberal top-dressing of manure. It is as vain to 

 expect to grow the majority of bedding-plants successively for years on the 

 same soil without enriching it, as it would be successful to produce good 

 vegetables on the same starving regimen ; indeed, many of these plants 

 (verbenas for instance) draw the soil as much as a crop of cabbage. If every 

 bit of weed, short grass, and other refuse that comes oflf the garden annually, 

 is conveyed to a heap, occasionally turned over and saturated with manure- 

 water, a most valuable dressing for the beds will be provided at a cheap 

 rate, I prepare about fifty or sixty loads of such dressing by this means 

 annually, and, indeed, it is all the enriching that an acre of flower-beds has 

 had for these last seven years, except an occasional deluge of manura- 

 water. Roses should have something richer: in fact, nothing is too good 

 for them, and I compromise matters by allowing the land-steward at the 

 rate of three loads of my dressing for his meadows, for every load of rich 



