SEPTEMBER. 



689 



SEPTEMBER. 



September. Flower Garden, 

 Work in. 



Annuals, Hardy. The first sowing of 

 hardy annuals to stand the winter in the 

 open air should also be made towards the 

 end of the month. 



Auricttlas, Polyanthuses, &>c. Seed- 

 ling polyanthuses, offsets of these and 

 auriculas should be planted out in the 

 reserve garden on rich shady beds. Shift 

 auriculas and polyanthuses in pots that 

 may require it. 



Carnations, &c. Pot off layers of carna- 

 tions as fast as rooted, water sparingly, and 

 place in a cold frame for a few days until 

 they make a fresh start. Choice varieties 

 should be potted in pairs in 5-inch pots, 

 in which they must remain under glass 

 throughout the winter. For rooted layers, 

 pipings, &c., generally a piece of ground 

 should be prepared by deep digging and 

 manuring, and in these the plants should 

 be placed, from 9 to 15 inches apart, 

 according to size, there to remain during 

 the winter and to mature for planting out 

 in spring. 



Cuttings. If any should wish for a defi- 

 nition of a " cutting,", it may be said that 

 it is simply part of a branch with two or 

 more joints, leaves, or buds ; it must have 

 two joints to constitute a cutting. It -may 

 grow if it has only one joint, but then it is 

 called an eye. Generally, cuttings have 

 from three to six joints or leaves : these 

 are enough for a verbena ; four to six are 

 good averages for scarlet or zonal gera- 

 niums. Cut the base of the cuttings 

 clean across with a knife ; remove the 

 leaves at the base, or not, as you please ; 

 insert it firmly in any light sandy soil, 

 covering the surface with fine sand, the 

 more effectually to exclude the air; place 

 it in a position favourable to the reten- 

 tion of its juice until roots are emitted, 

 and then the peripd of its cuttinghood is 

 over, and it has become a perfect plant. 



Cuttings, management of. For cuttings 

 of most flower-garden plants at this season 

 no place is so good as a close, cold frame. 

 In preparing pots or pans for cuttings at 

 this period of the year, it shonld first be 

 determined whether they are to remain in 

 store pots for the winter, or be potted off 

 as soon as rooted. If the former, a third 

 of the pot should be filled with drainage ; 

 if the latter, a much smaller proportion of 

 drainage will suffice. Cuttings that are to 

 stand in their store pots until next spring 

 must also be inserted thinner than those 

 that are to be potted when rooted. Ten 

 verbenas, or other such cuttings, will be 

 enough for a 48 -sized pot to maintain 

 throughout the winter. Twenty might be 

 inserted if they are to be potted off directly. 

 Some cuttings, such as scarlet geraniums, 

 have, however, a superabundance of sap 

 when removed from the parent plant ; if 

 placed in the same medium that would 

 suit the tip end of a verbena shoot, instead 

 of forming roots they would decay by 

 wholesale. Various expedients have been 

 recommended to check this tendency 

 laying the cuttings in the air after they are 

 made, to dissipate their superfluous juices, 

 &c., &c. No practice is, however, so 

 good as removing the cuttings direct from 

 the plants, with all their leaves on, and 

 placing them full in the sun out of doors 

 without any shade or protection whatever. 

 They may either be planted in the natural 

 ground, 6 inches apart, on a prepared 

 border, or in pots or boxes ; and success 

 will be alike certain, with less than one 

 per cent. loss. 



Dahlias. Dahlias will now require 

 careful tying, disbudding, and thinning of 

 the shoots, where first-rate flowers are 

 required ; a good soaking of manure water 

 in dry weather will also be most service- 

 able to them. The blossoms of dahlias 

 are often infested with and injured by ear- 

 wigs, which must be trapped by inverted 



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