Calendar of Operations 



soil when the weather is fine and the soil is in a fairly dry con- 

 dition. Salpiglossis, Phlox Drummondii, and Zinnia, also 

 Asters, Petunias, etc., should be sown, about this date, on a mild 

 hotbed which has an even covering of finely-sifted soil two inches 

 deep, thoroughly moistened before the seed is planted. The 

 seeds should be thinly sown in rows and covered with finely- 

 sifted soil to the depth of one-quarter of an inch ; shade the soil 

 until germination has taken place, care being taken that the young 

 seedlings are not allowed to flag or wilt or even to become dry. 

 When the seedlings are large enough to be pricked off, they 

 should be planted, three inches apart, in moderately rich soil in 

 boxes (four inches deep) or singly in two and one-half inch pots. 



Insert cuttings of Alternantheras, Irisines, Heliotropes, 

 Petunias, etc., in pots or boxes filled with a mixture of one-half 

 finely-sifted leaf-mold, one-quarter loam and one-quarter clean 

 white sand, with a half-inch layer of sand on the surface; give 

 water enough to settle the sand about the cuttings and plunge 

 in a bottom heat of about seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit in 

 greenhouse or hot frame, keeping them in a close atmosphere 

 and shaded from sunshine for about ten days and then gradually 

 exposing them to light and air. Seedling Lobelias and Pyre- 

 thrums, sown last month, should now be pricked out about two 

 inches apart in light rich soil in pans or boxes. Place them in a 

 close, warm atmosphere shading them until they re-root in their 

 new soil when they may be gradually inured to air and light. 



Dahlias. If an increase of the number of plants is desired, 

 old roots should now be put upon a bed having a mild bottom- 

 heat, the tubers being covered up to the collar with light leaf- 

 mold or other light sandy soil. Syringe them twice daily, and, 

 as soon as the young shoots have made two or three joints in 

 length, slip them off and place them singly in small pots filled 

 with sand and leaf-mold, half and half, well-mixed together; 

 then plunge them in a close, warm frame or greenhouse and, 

 when they are rooted, gradually expose them to air and light. 



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