CALENDAE.J 



PRACTICE OF HORTICULTUEE. 



[CALENDAE. 



June. 



Fruit Garden. — Saails are now harbouring 

 ou the stalks, and among the side-shoots of 

 raspberries. Look for them every morning. 

 If large fruit is wanted, thin the blooms at 

 once, and dispense liquid manure. Dis-bud 

 and nail in. Pot trees to have plenty of 

 water; and, if weakly in their new growth, 

 give pretty strong doses of liquid manure at 

 intervals of a week each. Pinch, regulate, 

 and, where the fruit grows thick, thin it out. 



Forcing Department. — If plants in flower 

 are desired to be prolonged in their beauty, 

 a shading of Shaw's tiffany or Haythorn's 

 hexagon net should be used ; the latter will 

 also exclude bees and wasps ; for flowers on 

 which bees have settled, perish sooner than 

 those to which they have no access. Cinera- 

 rias having ceased to bloom, may be propagated 

 by suckers and side-shoots ; if the plants are 

 turned out on a border, and heaped round 

 the collar with sandy loam, they will give out 

 suckers, which may afterwards be slipped off 

 with a portion of root attached. 



Kitchen Garden. — By this time the ground 

 will be, for the most part, entirely occupied, 

 and everything in full growth. The hoe must 

 never be idle. Next to keeping down weeds, 

 give plenty of water ; but do not drench to 

 excess plants lately put out, lest a chill should 

 check their growth. Cucumbers, gourds, 

 tomatoes, and capsicums may be put out in a 

 rich soil, giving a sunny aspect to the toma- 

 toes. Manure-water should be freely given to 

 all crops in full growth, especially to straw- 

 berries; but there should be two or three 

 waterings with plain water, to one with liquid 

 manure. Sow beet, cabbages, cauliflower, 

 endive, early horn carrots, Prench beans, 

 lettuces, radishes, spinach, scarlet runners, 

 turnips, and peas and beans. Salad plants 

 should have a shady situation, or they may 

 run to seed. In sowing peas and beans, 

 depend on the earliest sorts at this time of the 

 year, as they are soon off the ground ; but 

 Knight's Marrow and Bed man's Imperial are 

 excellent peas to sow now for late supply. 

 Dress asparagus and sea-kale beds with one 

 pound of salt to every square yard, and give 

 the asp;iragus powerful doses of liquid manure 

 from liorse-dung. 

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Flower Garden. — Newly-made lawns re- 

 quire a little special care at this season. 

 Carnations, pinks, and picotees, may now be 

 propagated by pipings on the north side of a 

 fence, or in pots half filled with sandy loam. 

 Ranunculuses require water frequently ; and 

 beds of valuable kinds must be screened in 

 the same way as tulips, with netting or canvas. 

 Pansies strike readily from short side-shoots; 

 the old hollow stems will also strike, but never 

 become good plants ; the new growth is that 

 to be depended on. Dahlias should be im- 

 mediately staked, if not done at the time of 

 planting, so as to avoid damage to the roots 

 when they have begun to grow. Perennials 

 should be sown for next season's blooming, 

 that strong plants may be obtained. So thin 

 in nursery beds, and prick out the plants in 

 rows as soon as they make rough leaves. 



JULT. 



Fruit Garden. — Gooseberry and currant 

 bushes should be kept open in the centre; 

 and leave on the bush-fruits only as much 

 wood as will bear a fine crop next season. 

 Cuttings of gooseberries and currants may be 

 struck now in a moist shady border. Mulch 

 raspberries with half-rotten dung. Strawberry 

 beds should be well attended to. Strong- 

 rooted runners should be taken off to form 

 new plantations, and be pricked out into well- 

 manured beds, pretty close together. After 

 three years, strawberry beds cease to pay, and 

 should be broken up, and the ground trenched 

 for winter crops. 



Forcing Department. — All green-house plants 

 require shifting for late blooming, and they 

 should be grown to a good size before allowed 

 to blossom. Cinerarias for winter blooming 

 must have good culture and shifts as required, 

 and camellias may be shifted if necessary. 

 Ericas generally require to be pruned, and 

 cleared of seed-pods and dead flowers. All 

 the ventricosas should be put into the open 

 air in a north aspect, and sheltered with spare 

 lights during heavy rain. All those with 

 woolly leaves should be put in cold pits, and 

 kept shaded at mid-day. Any not shifted in 

 the spring should be cut in at once, and as 

 soon as they break re-potted. Re-pot leschen- 

 aultias. Every kind of hard-wooded plants 

 may be re-potted now if out of bloom. 



