464 Monthly Calendar. 



MONTHLY CALENDAR 



OP 



HORTICULTURE AND FLORICULTURE, 



FOR DECEMBER. 



FRUIT DEPARTMENT. 



Strawberry beds: continue to protect newly planted ones with a slight 

 covering of leaves, straw, or coarse manure, where not done before. 

 01(1 beds will come forward earlier in the s|)ring with a little protection. 



Fruit trees that have been planted this fall, it will be well to protect 

 at the roots with a wheelbarrow of manurCj to prevent freezing and 

 thawing of the soil in the spring. 



Grape vines in the open air should be trimmed of superfluous branches 

 and terminal shoots, and tender kinds protected by a covering of leaves 

 or manure. Those in the green-house or grapery, where not done be- 

 fore, should be pruned the latter part of the month, and the shoots 

 carefully bent down horizontally with the front sill of the house, and 

 tied loosely together. Young plants that have been grown in pots, 

 should be put in the cellar. 



Scions for grafting may be cut at this season, and preserved in the 

 cellar, by placing the lower ends in a box of earth. 



FLOWER DEPARTMENT. 



Hyacinths, tulips, crown imperials, narcissus, crocuses, &c., should be 

 got into the ground as soon as possible this month, if neglected or put 

 off from the last: after this period they suffer greatly from remaining 

 out of the soil. Hyacinths planted in pots the first of last month, and 

 plunged in the ground, may now be taken up and brought into the par- 

 lor to bloom, which will be in about six weeks. 



Dahlia roots remaining in the ground should be taken up as soon as 

 possible. 



Chrysanthemums, will now be out of flower, and the pots may be 

 removed to the cellar. 



Ten-week stocks, now potted, will bloom all winter. 



Gilia tricolor: pot small seedlings of this to bloom in the month of 

 February and March. 



Mimuluses : attend to repotting these for flowering through the season. 



Schizanthuses will require attention and repotting where they are 

 growing rapidly. 



Gladioluses, ixias, sparaxises, and other Cape bulbs, may yet be 

 planted with success. 



Ranunculuses, and anemonies, should now be planted in pots where 

 it is desirable to cultivate them in this manner. 



Cactuses: keep them moderately dry at this season. 



Oxalises may yet be planted with success: some excellent hints on 

 this genus will be found in the present number. 



Camellias will be opening their buds : give such as have already ex- 

 panded more water. 



Trevirana coccinea: keep the plants in a dormant state until February. 



Ericas in the green-house should be placed in an airy situation; water 

 more sparingly now than at other times, when they are growing freely. 



