106 POPULAR GARDEN FLOWERS 



water if the plants flag. Pot plants will require regular 

 daily attention. Many of them will have filled their five- 

 inch pots with roots, and directly the latter begin to 

 creep out of the soil into the ashes on which the pots 

 stand they should be shifted into seven-inch. As the 

 available frame space may not suffice now, a sheltered 

 place out of doors may be chosen, a coat of ashes 

 spread on, and the plants stood out ; but a light frame- 

 work of laths capable of supporting a cloth or mat 

 should be kept handy, so that a protector can be speedily 

 put over them if hard weather should come on. Some 

 of the varieties form a flower-bud this month, with three 

 incipient shoots below it. The bud should be picked off, 

 and the three shoots grown on and tied to stakes in due 

 course. To get flowers of exhibition quality, it is import- 

 ant that the break of the shoots referred to should take 

 place at the right time, and if it does not come naturally 

 the tips should be pinched off. As the sorts vary a 

 great deal, the beginner should send a list of those which 

 he is growing to the trade expert from whom he buys 

 his plants, or to a gardening paper, and ask for the 

 varieties to be marked according as they break naturally 

 or have to be stopped. Stem cuttings may be struck for 

 yielding small plants in pots. 



June. Outdoor plants ought to be in full growth 

 now. Hoe the soil once a week, and give a soaking of 

 water occasionally in dry weather. Pot plants grown 

 for prize blooms ought to have their final shift, and if 

 they are in seven-inch pots, they may go into nine-inch 

 or ten-inch ; if in six-inch they may go into eight-inch or 

 nine-inch. The pots should be drained with crocks 

 surfaced with moss or leaf mould. The compost may 

 consist of three parts fibrous loam, one part of leaf 

 mould, one part of decayed manure, with half a peck of 



