AUGUST. 



173 



them to root run a sharp knife along the middle of the 

 stem to be layered for about two inches, and set the cut 

 open with a small sphnter of wood. Tongueing with 

 a Chrysanthemum does not do ; but this plan of laying 

 the stem open often makes it root. 



As a too crowded growth interferes with beauty, sub- 

 due the rampant growth of large things by cutting them 

 away, thinning them out, or removing some where they 

 grow too close together. This refers to this and the 

 following months. 



Summary. — Attend to flowers in vases. Where de- 

 sired, clip trees to set form. Take off Rose suckers, and 

 attend to Roses and other choice flowers. Mulch, give 

 liquid manure. 'Make cuttings. Attend to climbers. 

 Attend to general tidying. Weed regularly. Dwarf 

 Chrysanthemum plants. Set crowded beds in order. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



GARDEN OPERATIONS IN AUGUST. 



Insects are of all months of the year, but they are espe- 

 cially destructive in warm weather. With the very first 

 warmth Aphides, in shoals and nations, show their un- 

 welcome presence on our roses, geraniums, and almost 

 all choice plants. A drying east wind makes them 

 abound, and rain clears them away. Lacking the 

 genial rains to do this work, we must take it in hand 

 ourselves, with careful hand-picking or washing them 

 off, which can best be done by taking hold of each 

 spray and washing off the green fly with a small soft 

 painter's brush and clean water, or weak quassia water. 

 The next best remedy is fumigating with tobacco 

 smoke. Let the plants be dry when you use the 

 fumigator, and, if it be practicable, cover the head of 

 each with a paper bag before it is operated on. Every 

 florist should own Brown's fumigator. Take care that 

 the tobacco does not break into a flame ; examine the 

 plants the next morning, and repeat the dose if ne- 

 cessary. Plants in a frame or pit can easily be placed 



