THE GARDEN WEEK BY WEEK 



Aug. are apt to do a great deal of damage by catching 

 I~I5 gardeners unawares. It is often thought that plants are 

 quite safe, when examination reveals that the tying 

 material has partially rotted away, and needs renewal. 

 If the shoots of Dahlias are numerous and crowded, they 

 must be thinned out — that is, if fine flowers are wanted. 

 Liquid manure will be of great help to the plants. 



Butterfly Flowers for Spring. — Mid-August is a suit- 

 able time for making a sowing of Butterfly Flowers 

 {Schizanthus) to bloom in the greenhouse next spring. 

 They are charming plants, and give very little trouble. 

 About a dozen seeds may be sown in fine soil in a 6-inch 

 pot, and when the seedlings appear they can be thinned 

 down to five of the best ; or the plants can be raised in 

 boxes, pricked off, and potted singly in 5-inch. They 

 will be all right on a light, airy greenhouse shelf through 

 the winter. 



Fruit 



Budding Apples and other Fruit Trees. — The great 

 majority of the fruit trees which are bought from 

 nurserymen have been budded by them on to stocks 

 such as Paradise, Quince, Crab, and Pear. Budding is 

 very rarely practised by amateurs, except in the case of 

 Roses, on account of the difficulty of getting stocks. It 

 requires the same careful manipulation as with Roses 

 (see Chapter VII.). It is done at about the same time, 

 under the same conditions, and in the same way. The 

 following are the principal stocks used: for Apples, 

 Broad-leaved Paradise, Crab, and Free ; the first is the 

 best for bush trees, and the second for standards. For 

 Pears, the Quince and the Pear ; the former is the better 

 for bushes and the latter for standards. For Plums, the 

 Mussel, Myrobalan, Brompton, or St. Julien ; there is 

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