Horticultural Memoranda. 239 



HORTICULTURAL MEMORANDA 



FOR MAY. 



FRUIT DEPARTMENT. 



Grape Vines will now be in full flower in the greenhouse and grapery, and 

 the temperature should be raised a few degrees, and the house kept rather 

 closer, especially during cold and windy weather. Discontinue syringing 

 while they are in blossom. By the middle of the month, the berries will 

 probably be nearly all set, when more air should be given, and syringing 

 again commenced : the walks should, however, be well watered every 

 warm day, in order to create a humid atmosphere. Continue to stop the lat- 

 erals where they have pushed from a previous stopping, and tie in leading 

 shoots carefully where the vines have not yet attained their full length. 

 The border should be carefully forked over, with the addition of some good 

 manure, and a slight coating of guano. Vines in the open air, of both for- 

 eign and native kinds, should now be tied up to the trellises, and put in order 

 for the season. A'^ines in pots, now swelling their fruit, should be liberally 

 watered with liquid manure. 



Raspberry plunlaiions may yet be made with the best success, in conse- 

 quence of the late backward weather. Dig around old plants, and tie up 

 the stems to stakes. 



Strawberry beds may be made all the month. Old beds should be care- 

 fully raked, and cleared from all old dead runners, weeds, &c. 



Grafting should all be completed this month, if possible. 



Pruning should now receive attention ; it is a kind of work which should 

 be done with deliberation and judgment. 



FLOWER DEPARTMENT. 



Pelargoniums will be in their greatest perfection this month, and, if they 

 have been properly managed, quite the showiest plants of a good green- 

 house collection. If the plants show signs of weakness, give them a little 

 guano water : see that they are all carefully and neatly tied up, and place 

 them in a situation where they can have an abundance of light and air, and 

 be shaded from the sun from 10 till 2 o'clock. Fumigate, if there is a 

 sign of the green fly. 



Camellias will now be making their new growth, and should be liberally 

 watered at the root, and freely syringed over the foliage ; no plant delights 

 more in moisture during the growing season than the cameUia. 



Azaleas will now need attention, if fine specimen plants are wanted next 

 season. As soon as they begin to make new shoots, the tops should be 

 nipped off, in order to make them bushy and compact. If plenty of room, 

 now is a capital time to encourage them in their growth by a liberal shift 

 into larger pots. Syringe freely over the foliage. 



Gloxinias should now be potted again, if they have been properly man- 

 aged. 



Achimenes will now need another shift, and, if very fine specimens are 

 wanted, they should be put into shallow pans, thiee plants in each. 



