454 THE GREEN-HOUSE. [JUNE 



require some water both morning and evening, at other times once a 

 day will be sufficient; but as the plants have no other nourishment 

 but what they extract from the earth within the pots or tubs, it ought 

 to be a general rule to keep it constantly moist, but not too wet. 



The best water for this purpose is such as is taken from rivers or 

 ponds where it is fully exposed to the sun and air, so that if you 

 have no other than spring or well water, it should always be exposed 

 in cisterns, &c., to the sun and air at least twenty-four hours before it 

 is used. 



You may, about once a fortnight, use a weak solution of guano in 

 the proportion of one pound to twenty gallons, or the diluted drain- 

 ings from a dunghill; but care must be taken that these materials 

 are weak enough ; for these strongly impregnated waters, instead of 

 affording nourishment, cause the leaves to change to a pale sickly 

 color, and ultimately bring on a general debility ; they operate like 

 hot liquors on human bodies, which, at first taking, seem to add new 

 vigor, yet, after some time, leave the body weaker than before. 



If mowings of short grass, or some moss, be spread on the surface 

 earth of the large tubs or pots of oranges, lemons, &c., it will pre- 

 serve the moisture and defend the upper roots from the sun and dry- 

 ing air. 



Such of the pots with plants, as are plunged in the earth, must be 

 turned fully around in their seats once a week to break off such fibres 

 as extend through the holes at bottom into the surrounding earth ; 

 for the reasons of doing this see pages 416 and 417. 



Some people thin what they consider the superabundant blossoms 

 of oranges and lemons ; this I do not approve of, as it is probable 

 that such as would set the best fruit might be plucked off as well as 

 any other ; therefore it will be the better way to suffer the whole 

 bloom to remain, and if too abundant a crop of fruit should happen 

 to set, to thin them soon after to a sufficient a number. However, 

 where some are wanted for making orange-flower water, the smallest 

 may be picked off where they appear in clusters, leaving the largest 

 and most promising. Any declining myrtles, or other hard-wooded 

 plants, may be greatly restored to strength and vigor by turning them 

 out of their pots, earth and all, and placing the balls in baskets made 

 of peeled or dried willows, and plunging these in the open borders 

 till September ; when they are to be taken up, the extending roots 

 trimmed off, the baskets cut away, and the plants with the entire 

 balls replanted in suitable-sized pots or tubs, after which they are to 

 be placed in the shade till housed. 



PROPAGATING THE PLANTS. 



Myrtles may be propagated abundantly towards the middle or lat- 

 ter end of the month by slips or cuttings of the present year's wood, 

 as may also hydrangeas, fuchsias, China and Otaheite roses ; coronil- 

 las, bupthalmum fruticosum, geraniums, jasmines, heliotropiums, 

 and almost every other kind of shrubby or under shrubby plants ; 

 observing when dressed and the under leaves taken off to plant them 

 three, four, or five inches deep, according to their respective lengths, 



