MAY. 



638 



MAY. 



tooted plants may be increased by this 

 method, as well as by separating the roots, 

 the only methods by which the properties 

 of the double-flowering species can be 

 ' propagated. 



Phloxes. These, whether in pots or 

 beds, should be watered occasionally with 

 liquid manure. 



Ranunculuses. These should have the 

 soil pressed round the collar and watered 

 when the soil becomes too dry. 



Tulips. Tulips beginning to show colour 

 should be shaded by an awning or other- 

 wise, but not too soon ; neither should it 

 remain after the sun has begun to de- 

 cline. Watering round the beds will keep 

 them cool, and protract the blooming 

 season. 



Tulips, Treatment after Flowering. 

 When these choice bulbs are past flower- 

 ing, and the leaves begin to decay, let the 

 roots be taken up and spread out to dry 

 and harden in some dry, shady place for a 

 fortnight or three weeks ; the roots trimmed, 

 cleaned, and deposited upon shelves or in 

 boxes, till required for replanting in autumn. 

 Others recommend that the bulbs should 

 be recommitted to the earth, not planted 

 out, but placed on their sides in a bed of 

 dry soil, and the roots covered for two or 

 three weeks, during which the moisture of 

 the bulbs will gradually exhale, and the 

 bulbs dry and harden without shrivelling 

 or rotting. From this bed they are re- 

 moved in a dry day, the stalk leaves 

 trimmed off, and the bulb well cleaned, 

 then spread out in a dry, shady place till 

 perfectly dry, when they are put away till 

 required. 



Violets. Select a shady border, and give 

 it a good dressing of rotten dung or leaf 

 soil; slightly fork in for planting with 'the 

 runners of the different kinds of violets for 

 forcing. The Neapolitan is the best for 

 frames or pots, and the runners will now 

 be found in a proper state for removing ; 



plant them 8 or 10 inches apart, water 

 them abundantly in dry weather, and pinch 

 off the runners as they appear ; if the soil 

 is rich and open they will grow into stout 

 bushy plants by the autumn, and may then 

 either be potted or planted into pits for 

 forcing. 



May. Fruit Garden and Or- 

 chard, Work in. 



Apples, Cherries, Pears, and Plums, on 

 walls or espaliers, should also be divested 

 of all useless wood during this month, and 

 the useful shoots trained in, regularly re- 

 moving all shoots produced in front of the 

 trees close to the stem. In summer prun- 

 ing, leave side shoots in different parts 

 convenient for training for the production 

 of future fruit-bearing spurs. By stopping 

 these side shoots when they are a few inches 

 long, the trees, whether espalier, dwarf, or 

 wall trees, will be brought into a moderate 

 state of growth favourable for the produc- 

 tion of fruit, with less use of the knife. 



Apricots. Stop all leading shoots, and 

 pinch off to a few buds all shoots not re- 

 quired to fill up vacant places on the 

 wall. Thin partially all fruit where it is 

 thickly set, but reserve the final thinning 

 until the fruit has stoned. 



Ctirrants and Gooseberries. At this 

 period of the year great injury accrues to 

 gooseberries and currants from the attacks 

 of caterpillars, which, if left to themselves, 

 will soon strip a bush of every leaf, leaving 

 only the mid-rib and stalk to show where 

 a leaf has been. To prevent their inroads, 

 the trees, when the shoots arr yet young 

 and uninjured, should be well dusted with 

 dry lime, soot, and guano, mixed together 

 in equal proportions, and sprinkled by 

 means of a tin dredger. Tobacco water 

 and soapsuds may be used, but the dry 

 mixture described above is thoroughly 

 effective. If the young shoots of any fruit- 

 tree show the presence of green or black fly, 



