.^8 T1IE GREEN-HOUSE. [June. 



You never should put sheep-dung, or any other, in the water, as 

 is practised hy many persons to the great injury of their plants; for 

 these strongly impregnated waters, instead of affording nourish- 

 ment, cause the leaves to change to a pale sickly colour, and ulti- 

 mately bring on a general debility; they operate like hot liquors 

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

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



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

 face earth of the large tubs or pots of oranges, lemons, &c, it will 

 preserve the moisture and defend the upper roots from the sun and 

 drying 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 oft" such 

 fibres as extend through the holes at bottom into the surrounding 

 earth; for the reasons of doing this see pages 402 and 405. 



Some people thin what they consider the superabundant blos- 

 soms 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 oft' 

 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 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 vigour 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 

 latter end of the month by slips or cuttings of the present year's 

 wood, as may also hydrangeas, fuschias, China and Otaheite roses; 

 coronillas, bupthalmum fruticosum, geraniums, jasmines, heliotro- 

 piums, 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 live inches deep, according to their 

 respective lengths, in wide garden pans or pots tilled with light 

 rich earth, or into beds of similar earth, where they can have occa- 

 sional shade and waterings till rooted. However, the covering of 

 them with bell-glasses will greatly facilitate their rooting and pro- 

 mote theii; growth, which; for the reasons assigned in page 423, is 

 by far the most eligible method, but particularly for woody plauts, 

 and such others as are not of the succulent tribe. 



This is also a very proper time to propagate succulent plants of 



