CALEN^DAB.] 



PEACTICE OF HOETICULTUEE. 



[calendar. 



broccoli, savoy, cabbage, cauliflower, horn 

 carrot, main crop of onions, parsley, leeks, 

 beans, peas, lettuce, spinach, and small salads. 

 Flower Garden. — Herbaceous plants for 

 summer and autumn bloom can now be planted, 

 though it is always better to do so in autumn. 

 Hardy annuals in the borders should be sown, 

 and tallied to each patch : as soon as large 

 enough to handle, thin the patches, and plant 

 out the thinnings wherever necessary, or pot 

 them for blooming in the window. Strike 

 chrysanthemums in heat, for planting out 

 in May. Set dahlias, and take cuttings. 

 Give sufficient air to carnations, pansies, auri- 

 culas, &c. ; and water freely during bright 

 weather. Weak liquid manure should be 

 given once a week. Plant dielytra spectabilis 

 from pots in rich deep loam. Finish planting 

 roses, and stake them at once. Examine 

 tulip beds, and remove, witli a knife, every 

 particle of canker. Keep beds of pansies 

 clean, and peg down the branches at equal 

 distanceSj covering them with soil up to about 

 two inches of the ends of the shoots. Lay 

 down turf, turn gravel-paths, make box 

 edging, and use the roller freely on lawns and 

 walks. Train and trim ivy at the close of the 

 month, reducing the growth on walls, &c., to 

 one regular felt or layer of shoots ; and re- 

 moving all the leaves, so as to esDose those 

 shoots to view. 



Apeil. 



Fruit GarcJen.—Vroteet wall trees from the 

 east winds, and with something that may be 

 easily removed, so that the trees have free air 

 night and day, weather permitting, and be 

 covered with the least possible trouble if the 

 wind shifts to the east or the north. Prunino' 

 and grafting, in the exposed quarters, must be 

 completed quickly. Abundance of water 

 should be given to fruit trees in pots, and the 

 crcliard-house kept in an orderly state. 



Forcing Department — A moderate heat 

 only should be given to general collections, 

 and a strong healthy growth should be pro- 

 moted by the admission of abundance of air, 

 with a view of dispensing with the fires for 

 the season. Many of the less tender things 

 may be transferred to cold pits, to give room 

 for other things that want continued pro- 

 tection to be brougiit to fine plants. Youu'^ 

 988 "" 



stuff fi'om the propagating-house should be 

 potted as fast as rooted, and kept close till 

 started afresh, and then gradually inured to 

 air and light, so as to be vigorous by the 

 middle of May. All tropical plants required 

 for summer blooming should be hastened, and 

 a quick growth promoted, so as to give them 

 as long a season as possible for blooming, and 

 ripening their buds for next year. Average 

 temperature this month. 55° by night, 60° to 

 65° by day. 



Kitchen Garden. — Sowings may now be 

 made of all leading kitchen crops that are to 

 succeed each other ; and where the work of 

 the last month has been delayed, seeds should 

 be got in early. Windsor, longpod, and 

 Johnson's Wonderful beans may be sown ; 

 Marrow, Auvergne, and dwarf mammoth 

 peas, and a few rows of the earlier sorts to 

 come in before the late peas are ready. 

 Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbages, cauli- 

 flowers, Lorn carrot, Scotch kale, and savoy, 

 for autumn use, should be put in. Among 

 cabbages, Atkin's Matchless, Early York, and 

 Shilling's Queen, and West Ham, are excellent 

 kinds to sow now ; but the principal crop of 

 cabbages should be up by this time, and they 

 should be hoed between when the ground is 

 in a fit state. In ground deeply dug, but not 

 manured, beet should be sown in the second 

 week. The main crop of celery should be 

 sown on a rich warm border, with the surface 

 made light and fine ; sow thin, and merely 

 dust the seed over. Sow also asparagus, let- 

 tuce, onions, radish, sea-kale, and small salad 

 — the two last in drills, one foot apart, and one 

 inch deep for asparagus, and two inches for 

 sea-kale. To raise seedling rhubarb plants, 

 sow about the middle of the month in shallow 

 drills, eighteen inches apart, dropping the 

 seeds in patches, six inches from each other. 

 Potatoes not yet got in should be planted 

 without delay ; and towards the end of the 

 month, scarlet runners and French beans 

 sown. The principal crop of carrots should 

 be planted about the middle of the month ; 

 and there is still time for a crop of parsneps, 

 but they must be sown directly. Slips of 

 kitchen herbs will do any time this mouth, 

 but will root quicker if planted in a rather 

 dry sandy border. 



Flower Garden. — Hardy annuals and pe- 



