MAY. 



649 



JUNE. 



mittent watering, as, for example, onions, 

 whose tube-like leaves will turn yellow at 

 the top, if water is given to them and 

 subsequently withheld. Nevertheless, all 

 transplanted vegetables must be watered 

 plentifully, and even shaded if facilities 

 exist for affording them shelter from the 

 sun's rays, in order to prevent too great a 

 check to their growth. 



May. Orchard House, Work in. 



Pruning, Summer. Summer pruning 

 of trees to be so treated to commence early 

 this month. In pyramids, apricots, as 

 soon as the shoots have made six or seven 

 leaves, must have the sixth leaf with the 

 end of the shoot pinched or cut off with a 

 penknife, leaving only five main leaves. 

 From this leading shoot two or three will 

 break : in like manner, when they break, 

 all but one of these are to be pinched down 

 to five leaves. When this one has made 

 ten leaves, pinch down to nine. With 

 pyramidal peaches and nectarines, as soon 

 as the shoot has made three leaves, pinch 

 off the third leaf with the end of the shoot, 

 leaving two principal ones. These pinched 

 shoots will soon put forth fresh shoots, 

 which, with all succeeding ones, must be 

 pinched off to one leaf as soon as three are 

 formed. 



Ventilation. Ventilation must still be 

 strictly attended to. Open all ventilators 

 during the day, except in fierce north and 

 east winds. Worsted netting of ^-inch 

 mesh may be placed over the ventilators in 

 severe weather. If the caterpillar attacks 

 the young shoots of the apricot, the ends 

 must be pinched off and crushed. 



Watering. Trees in pots will require 

 watering daily, but trees planted in borders 

 will require water at intervals of a week or 

 a fortnight, according to the state of the 

 weather and the temperature of the external 

 air. Thus the trees will require water 

 more frequently if the weather be hot and 



dry than if it be cold and wet, because the 

 beds will not lose their moisture so rapidly 

 under the latter conditions as they will 

 under the former. A regular and sufficient 

 supply must be maintained ; do not give 

 liquid manure until the stone begins to- 

 form in the fruit, and then it must be very 

 weak. When the fruit is swelling, increase 

 its strength, but at no time give very strong 

 manure water to fruit-trees. 



May. Shrubbery, Work in. 



Evergreens and Hedges, Clipping. Thi& 

 should receive attention before the young 

 growth has made too much way. All 

 evergreens and hedges, especially ever- 

 green hedges, should be cut to a point 

 pyramidically ; for if the top be allowed 

 to overhang the bottom, the lower shoots 

 will invariably die off. Prune hollies and 

 laurels with the knife. Privet and thorn 

 may be clipped with the garden shears. 



JUNE. 



Aspect and Character of 

 Month. 



The direct power of the sun's rays indeed 1 

 is now at its maximum, although the radia- 

 tion of heat from the earth's surface, which 

 decides the temperature cf our atmosphere, 

 does not attain its highest point till August. 

 The variation of the temperature is still* 

 great, ranging, according to local circum- 

 stances, from a few degrees above freezing 

 to 90, the mean heat being 58. The 

 average mean temperature at Chiswick, for 

 a period of ten years, at two feet below the 

 surface, was 58 ; at I foot, 60 ; and on 

 the surface, 60 45' ; the mean maximum 

 and minimum of the external air being 

 respectively 81 13' and 45 10'. The dry- 

 ness of its atmosphere is also at its height 

 in our moist climate, and vegetation now 

 depends on the dew, with which the atmos- 

 phere is laden, and with which, being con- 



