JUNE. 



653 



JUNE. 



rich. They are most of them profuse 

 flowerers. 



Ranunculuses. These will be making 

 rapid growth. Always water inthe evening 

 and with water which has been exposec 

 to the rays of the sun. When they begin 

 to show colour, the awning, or other shade 

 should be placed over them : a few hoops 

 extended over the bed, with mats on the 

 sunny side, for a few hours in the middle 

 of the day, will suffice, and greatly prolong 

 their beauty. While the bloom is fresh, 

 give water ; but as it fades, discontinue it, 

 and keep them from rain. 



Rose Maggot and Green Fly. Close 

 watching is now required to prevent the 

 ravages of the rose maggot, war.hing daily 

 with the syringe. To dislodge the green 

 fly, a little ammonia or tobacco mixed with 

 the water is useful. 



Roses. Standard and pillar roses should 

 likewise be looked over to see that they are 

 properly secured to their stakes. This 

 being the month in which roses are in their 

 glory, care should betaken that their effect 

 is not destroyed by imperfect buds or 

 deformed flowers. Weak-growing shoots 

 should be tied up and regulated, and all 

 fading flowers and seed vessels removed, 

 cutting back the perpetual or autumn- 

 flower kinds, as soon as all the flowers of 

 the branch are expanded to the most pro- 

 minent vertical eye, stirring the ground 

 and saturating it with manure water, or 

 sprinkling the ground with guano and 

 water with soft rain water. 



Routine Work. The most pressing work 

 about the middle of the month is that of 

 keeping the place in order. The edgings, 

 whether of grass or box or other evergreen, 

 should be repaired or clipped now. The 

 effect produced at this season will amply 

 repay the trouble ; and in flower gardens 

 the effect is excellent. Evergreen hedges 

 clipped now have time to make and mature 

 a new growth before winter, while the 



season is far enough advanced to prevent 

 them from growing much out of shape. 



Saving Seed. Sorts which it is desirable 

 to save seeds from should have the seed- 

 pods covered with a piece of glass placed 

 in a notched stick. This will preserve the 

 crown from receiving moisture, and prevent 

 decay. Remove the seed vessels of all 

 others, as the bulbs become ready to take 

 up sooner than if they were allowed to 

 remain on. 



Tulips. Tulips will now require the. 

 chief attention ; and by proper care and 

 protection their season of bloom may be 

 considerably prolonged. The beds should 

 be gone over carefully, and memoranda 

 made of the style or character of the flowers 

 individually. For instance, tall flowers 

 should be marked to go in the fourth or 

 middle row, whilst the height of others 

 should be noted, in order that a proper 

 degree of uniformity may be attained at 

 next planting. 



June. Fruit Garden and Or- 

 chard, Work in. 



Apricots. These will now require their 

 final thinning, and stopping, and watering, 

 also followed by mulching, which is im- 

 portant at this lime for all fruit-trees where 

 evaporation is active. 



Cherries. Cherry-trees now progressing 

 towards maturity should be gone carefully 

 over, the shoots stopped and laid in, and 

 the trees netted, to save the fruit and pro- 

 tect it from birds. If the black fly appears, 

 cut off the ends of the shoots, unless it 

 s more convenient to wash them in tobacco 

 water. 



Currants and Gooseberries. A wash of 

 ime or clear soot water may be applied 

 with advantage to gooseberries and currants 

 nfested with the caterpillar. These in- 

 crease so rapidly that a constant watch 

 must be kept up for some time. Pinch 

 back all shoots off the currant-trees not 



