170 



THE FLOWER GABBED. 



as it ripens ; if you don't, it will all blow away. Stick 

 pmks, carnations, picotees, and plants in general whose 

 flower-stems are rising ; it is folly to take infinite pains 

 to raise and cultivate a plant, and then to leave its bloom 

 to draggle in the dirt. "Weed right and left ; break up 

 with the rake and hoe the surface of any bed that has 

 got hard and caked. "Watering is often more requisite 

 now than at any other time of the year ; very, very 

 weak, clear manure-water will sometimes be a great help ; 

 but it must not be indiscriminately administered ; for 

 instance, to rhododendrons and azaleas. 



JUNE. 



This is the time for the main planting-out of dahlias, 

 heliotropes, and other tender South Americans. Look 

 carefully over your roses ; their enemies are legion, — of 

 insect vermin the host is fearful ; proper pruning is some 

 preventive. The maggots, and worms, and caterpillars, 

 and grabs, which attack the buds, must be picked out 

 patiently with finger and thumb. Other remedies are 

 best described by the syllables uttered by the domestic 

 duck. Aphides are comparatively harmless, though un- 

 sightly ; a thunderstorm proves an excellent cure for 

 them. Eor want of a tempest, take the tip of each twig- 

 in one hand, and with a painter's brush in the other, 

 brush off the clustering parasites. They can't stand a 

 repetition of this regimen. An amateur has invented a 

 double aphis-brush, closing with a spring-handle, which, 

 says the advertisement, in a very simple and easy manner, 

 instantly cleanses the rose from that destructive insect 

 the green-fly, without causing the slightest injury to the 

 bud or the foliage. Finally, encourage lady-birds and 

 the sightless grubs of lace-wing flies, which eat or rather 

 suck the aphides. Some of your earliest spring bulbs 

 will soon be fit to be taken up. Save seed from Auriculas 

 and Polyanthuses. You must work hard now to keep 

 things in order; grass has to be mowed, disbudding or 

 summer pruning done by finger and thumb, and the 



