JUNE. 6 



fresher when watered occasionally. This 

 should be done in the evening, and 

 copiously, but not too often, stirring the 

 soil amongst calceolarias, pegging down 

 the lateral branches of verbenas, agera- 

 tums, petunias, and anagallis, so as to 

 cover the ground. 



Bedding Stock, Surplus. As soon as the 

 beds, borders, &c., of the flower garden 

 are finished, the baskets and vases filled, 

 and the general spring planting out brought 

 to a finish, the remaining stock of bedding 

 plants should be looked over. A portion 

 will be required for stock ; and as a con- 

 siderable number of plants will in all pro- 

 bability be required to make failures good, 

 or to replace beds now occupied with short 

 blooming plants, and other demands through 

 the season these, with few exceptions, 

 had better be kept in pots ; and, therefore, 

 if any unpotted cuttings yet remain, let 

 them be potted off into clean pots. Repot 

 others, also, getting too full of roots, 

 plunging them afterwards in ashes, in a 

 cool, shady situation, and pinching off all 

 early or premature blooms : they will soon 

 be ready for turning out. 



Beds, Management of. The newly 

 planted beds require constant watching. 

 All failures should be instantly made good, 

 and the tying and staking of everything 

 requiring support attended to. Where an 

 early display of flowers is not wanted, the 

 buds may be pinched off. Pansies, ane- 

 mones, double wallflowers, and other 

 spring plants, should be removed as they 

 go out of bloom, to make room for autumn- 

 flowering ones, the beds being made up 

 with fresh compost, in planting the later. 



Box Edgings, &r.. When showery 

 weather occurs, kt the box be clipped. 

 London pride, thrift, daisies, &c., used for 

 edging, should be taken up once in two 

 years, divided, and replanted when the 

 blooming season is over. 



Bulbs in Covered Beds, Management of . 



i JUNE. 



About the second week the awning may 

 be taken from the tulip shed, and the 

 foliage of the plants exposed fully to the 

 action of the sun and rain. Offsets in 

 warm situations will require taking up 

 before those on the main bed ; as soon as 

 the foliage turns yellow, they may be 

 removed with safety. Seedlings which 

 have grown one year should be allowed to 

 remain in the ground during the first 

 winter ; when two years old they may be 

 lifted and kept separated. 



Bulbs in Open Ground, Management 

 of. Offsets and bulbs in exposed beds 

 should be taken up at an earlier period 

 than those that have been covered, choos- 

 ing a dry day for the purpose, as soon as- 

 the foliage begins to change. They should 

 be stowed away in some dry, airy place, 

 where mice cannot have access to them,, 

 leaving them there till the bulb is thoroughly 

 dry, the fibres, husk, and skin, remaining 

 also. 



Carnations, Picotees, and Pinks, as- 

 they advance, should be tied to their stakes, 

 reducing the number of shoots according 

 to the strength of the plant. Care should 

 be taken that the flower pods of pinks da 

 not burst; and those having ligatures 

 round them will require easing and retying. 

 Shade any forward flowers, giving plenty 

 of water and liquid manure. 



Carnations, &*<:., Propagation of. The 

 larger stalks of the pink, or grass, as it is- 

 technically called, when separated from, 

 the parent plant, may be "piped " now 

 that is, the upper part of the stalk may be 

 drawn out of its sheath or spathe, and 

 struck in light sandy soil under a hand- 

 glass. This being done for the larger 

 stalks, the plants will put out abundant 

 stock for later cuttings. At the end of the- 

 month, or early in July, the main crop of 

 pipings or layers should be got in. See 

 this is done by making a slight hotbed^, 

 and covering it with 6 inches of sandy soiU. 



