240 GARDENING FOR PLEASURE. 



sanded by dashing rains. Nearly all the small fruits, such as 

 gooseberries, raspberries, etc., etc., are much improved by having 

 a mulching of some sort placed around the roots, which should be 

 done this month. 



VEGETABLE GARDEN. This is usually the busiest month in the 

 garden, crops mature and have to be gathered, and while doing 

 so, weeds are apt to steal a march on you, and may destroy entirely 

 some of your hard work of former months, unless you attack them 

 in their embryo stage, that is just when breaking through the soil. 

 A man will hoe and rake over six times the surface of soil when 

 the weeds are in this stage that he would if weeds were six inches 

 high, and in this matter more than anything else I know of in 

 gardening, does a " stitch in time save nine." Beans, peas, beets, 

 corn, cucumbers, lettuce, etc., may yet be sown for succession 

 crops, and late plantings of Irish potatoes and sweet potatoes will 

 yet do well on suitable soils. Tomatoes should be tied up to trel- 

 lises or stakes, if fine flavored and handsome fruit is desired. 



JULY. 



GREENHOUSE AND FLOWER-GARDEN. But little may be said of 

 the greenhouse this month. Watering, ventilating, and fumigat- 

 ing, (or the use of tobacco in other forms for destruction of aphis), 

 must be attended to. Keep the atmosphere of the greenhouse 

 moist. The plants from the greenhouse that may have been 

 plunged out-doors, must be watched when they require repotting, 

 and where the roots have run through the pots, they should also 

 be occasionally turned round, to break them off, for if this is 

 not done now, it would seriously injure the plant in fall when 

 the roots have run through the pot and deep into the soil, as they 

 often do. Plants such as dahlias, roses, gladioluses, as well as 

 many herbaceous perennial and annual plants, will now require 

 staking ; be careful to proportion the size of the stake to that of 

 the plant, and do riot tie it too tightly. Stakes painted green look 

 best, and the square are nearly as good as the round ones, and 

 much cheaper. Carnations and other plants that are throwing up 

 flower-stems, if wanted to flower in whiter, should be cut back. 



FRUIT-GARDEN. If there are any signs of mildew on the grape- 

 vine leaves, dust them over with dry sulphur, choosing a still, 

 warm day. The fruit will now be gathered from the strawberry 

 vines, and if new beds are to be formed, the system recommended 

 of layering the plants in small pots is the best ; see Strawberries. 



