JULY. 



674 



JULY. 



k is requisite plants should complete their 

 growth early for this purpose. Among 

 heaths, those which flower through the 

 winter should be encouraged to complete 

 their growth. At no period of the year 

 do heaths and hard -wooded plants in 

 general require more care than the 

 present, more particularly such as have 

 been recently potted. To keep the old 

 ball sufficiently moist to preserve the plant 

 in health in the high temperature without 

 getting the new soil in a sour state, 

 requires great nicety in watering, suppos- 

 ing the plants to be under glass. 



Oranges and Lemons. Orange and 

 lemon-trees will now be in bloom, and 

 should be supplied with water at least 

 three times a week in dry weather, and be 

 occasionally supplied with liquid manure 

 after stirring the surface of the soil and 

 top-dressing. Orange-trees when too full 

 of bloom should have the flowers thinned 

 out. They are always in request for dry- 

 ing or distilling. The young fruit when 

 too thickly set should also have a thinning. 

 In order to procure dark glossy foliage, 

 water with clear soot water. 



Oranges, &<:., Budding and Grafting. 

 Oranges, camellias, azaleas, and other 

 hard-wooded plants, can now be budded 

 or grafted ; and hi the beginning of the 

 month, myrtles, oleanders, and jasmines 

 propagated by layers. All pots and tubs, 

 especially orange and lemon plants, require 

 stirring on the surface of the soil, and top 

 dressed and watered when required. 



Oranges^ Stocks for. The stocks for 

 budding orange-trees are raised from seeds 

 sown in March or April in pots of rich 

 earth, and plunged into a hotbed. In five 

 or six weeks the plants will come up, when 

 they are planted singly in thumb pote, and 

 plunged into a fresh hotbed, raising the 

 frame as the plants increase in height, to 

 encourage their growth. In August they 

 will be 1 8 or 20 inches high, when they 



may be removed into the greenhouse, 

 placing them near the lights. In March 

 or April shift them into larger pots, and 

 plunge again into a hotbed, gradually 

 exposing them to the air towards the end 

 of May, to harden them, turning them 

 out from June till August. In the third 

 summer they will be fit for budding, for 

 which they are prepared by removal into 

 the greenhouse, giving them plenty of air 

 and light, but turning the side on which 

 they are to be budded from the sun, and 

 shading the whole plant from its fiercest 

 heat. Three weeks before budding, the 

 plant may be plunged into a moderate 

 hotbed of tanner's bark, where it can have 

 free ventilation. 



Pelargoniums. June and July are the 

 best months for increasing this plant. 

 Cuttings struck at this season from plants 

 which have been forced, and the wood 

 thoroughly ripened, produce fine plants 

 for autumn flowering and early spring 

 forcing, supplying the want of flowers in 

 the conservatory in winter and spring. 



Pelargoniums for Autumn Blooming- 

 When autumn-flowering plants are required, 

 take cuttings in early summer, when they 

 will strike freely ; fill the pot half full of 

 broken potsherds, and fill up with a com- 

 post of equal parts of good turfy loam, 

 peat, and well-decomposed cow dung and 

 leaf mould, with a good portion of silver 

 sand. By the end of July the plants will 

 require to be repotted, taking care that 

 this is repeated as often as roots fill the 

 pots. As the season advances, a little 

 heat will make them expand their blossoms 

 more freely. 



July. Greenhouse, Work in. 



Plants after Blooming, Treatment of. 

 Greenhouse plants, after they have done 

 blooming, should have a comparatively 

 cool temperature, and no structure presents 

 so many advantages ior this purpose, as 



