OCTOBER. 



702 



OCTOBER. 



constitute the proper cuttings. It is better 

 to wait until now for these than to attempt 

 striking the others in August or September. 

 Propagation, Plants for. The inex- 

 perienced gardener, and especially the 

 amateur, may be led sometimes to inquire 

 what plants are to be propagated at this 

 season besides geraniums, verbenas, and 

 calceolarias. Petunias must on no account 

 be forgotten, and in addition to all these, 

 a greater or fewer number of the following 

 species, according to requirement, should 

 be added to the general stock : 



This list will furnish a pretty safe and 

 correct answer to any inquiry as to the 

 plants that may be propagated. All are 

 beautiful, and if some be thought more 

 desirable than others, there is ample room 

 for choice and selection. 



Reserve Garden. Keep annuals and 

 other plants in beds quite clear. Plant off 

 primroses, polyanthuses, violets, iberis, and 

 arabis. Wallflowers may now be removed 

 to flower beds and borders, if these have 

 been cleared of their summer occupants. 

 Increase by division of the roots such 

 herbaceous plants as rockets, lychnis, &c. , 

 and plant them in beds in this department. 

 Plant beds of narcissuses, hyacinths, cro- 

 cuses, &c., either for permanent flowering 

 here, or for removal to the flower garden 

 afterwards. 



Routine Work. Maintain scrupulous 

 -clear liness, and continue the beauty here 

 uj long as possible. Prepare pots and 



space for potting or boxing the chief stock 

 of geraniums, calceolarias, jasmines, &c. 

 If frost should come, get everything you 

 intend to save under cover directly, and 

 proceed to store them away at your leisure. 

 Tulips. Prepare beds of good, light, 

 fibrous, sandy loam for tulips, and have all 

 in readiness for planting the main stock 

 early next month. Similar preparations 

 may be made for beds of other bulbs that 

 are to flower en masse. 



I October. Fruit Garden and 

 Orchard, Work in. 



Apples and Pears. The fruit is now 

 ripening fast. Gather on fine days, taking 

 care that the pears especially are tenderly 

 handled. When laid in the fruit room for 

 a week, it should be carefully looked over ; 

 more fruit decays in the first week than for 

 many weeks afterwards, and if not removed, 

 it soon affects others. 



Nectarines and Peache s. The trees 

 should have all superfluous shoots removed, 

 and the young wood left exposed to as 

 much sun as possible, to ripen the shoots, 

 on which the hopes of the following year 

 depend. As soon as the leaves part readily 

 from the branches, sweep them off, but not 



j violently, with a new birch broom. The 

 trees will be benefited by passing a light 

 broom over the foliage in the direction of 

 its growth. It will detach the ripened 

 leaves, and admit air to the heart of the 

 tree and branches. Root pruning, if 

 thought requisite, perform towards the 

 end of the month. 



Fruit-Trees, Planting. Planting fruit- 

 trees should now be proceeded with if the 

 necessary preparations are made. These 

 preparations consist in draining and pre- 

 paring stations where planting in the open 

 ground is intended, and preparation of the 

 border where wall trees or espaliers are to 

 be planted. The most important part in 



i planting, next to soil and subsoil, is to 



