95 
OPERATIONS FOR MAY. 
Again the cheerful month of May is ushered in, and the gardens and fields begin to teem 
with all the verdancy and glowing tints of their floral treasures. The occasional returns of frost, 
which so frequently intercept and obstruct the stream of vegetable activity, are now once more on 
the eve of final departure for the season, and gradually abating in the force of their attacks. But 
though their severity is tempered, and less frequently experienced through the increasing power 
of the sun, the susceptibility of plants to receive harm from them is at the same time so much 
greater, that they are really more to be feared and more strenuously to be warded off now than 
the fiercer frosts of former months. 
Another thing by which a hurtful depression of temperature becomes more truly the enemy 
of the culturist at the present advanced season, is the necessity which now exists for removing so 
many of the plants hitherto protected in glass-houses and frames to the open air, in order to 
afford room for carrying on successfully the ordinary operations of summer. It will therefore be 
a matter of absolute necessity for him to provide himself with some convenient portable fabric, 
such as mats or canvas, to throw over them when a likelihood of such recurrence appears. Fur- 
nished with these, he may at once proceed to transplant to their summer quarters many of the 
more hardy amongst the plants for the flower-garden. They will thus be obtaining root-hold in 
the soil, and hence will more speedily cover the beds and expand flowers ; whilst they may easily 
be protected from the slight casual spring frosts by the means just alluded to. Perhaps, where 
there is an amplitude of room in frames and low houses, healthy strong plants, and an earlier 
bloom may be induced by allowing them to enjoy these receptacles till the end of the month or 
commencement of June, observing in the meanwhile to furnish them with sufficient pot-room for 
the roots to extend, and encourage to the full their respective growing capacities ; but it must be 
remembered that this plan will entail an enormous increase of labour and attention, both in 
potting and repotting, watering and daily care, and also in the operation of transplanting, when 
the period at last arrives. This extra labour will bear no comparison with the little required for 
the occasional covering and uncovering of the beds ; and therefore, unless the culturist has 
ample leisure and convenience, we would advise the less delicate things to be immediately trans- 
ferred to the parterre. This must not be considered discrepant with the recommendations of last 
month : it is essential to pot off and encourage young plants in April ; but to continue the 
practice much longer would demand more space and time than can generally be afforded. 
If any of the arrangements or preparatory operations for planting out are yet incomplete, no 
further procrastination must be indulged in ; for it is now high time to have everything in 
readiness. We may here advert to a current mistake in the preparation of flower-beds for 
exotics, most disastrous in its consequences, which cultivators nevertheless adhere to very 
extensively : we allude to the practice of gorging them indiscriminately with dung, as though it 
were an unfailing panacea for every species of weakness or sickliness. The very contrary is often 
the real result of the case ; and instead of dung improving the aspect, it is the very parent by 
which an unhealthy habit is engendered. In other instances it cherishes a plethoric disposition, 
and is hence inimical to the production of flowers. The character of the plant, and the constitu- 
tion of the soil, must both be taken into consideration. As a general rule, we would propose 
a less depth of soil than commonly exists, and the securance of a permeable subsoil, especially 
the latter, when dung is employed. The soil must neither be too open, nor yet very adhesive ; 
and wherever such extremes exist, unless some remedial measures are applied, success can only 
result under a corresponding extreme in the state of the weather during the season. Manure 
may usually be applied successfully to those plants which are ordinarily most prodigal of their 
blossoms, with a continued development of them. When the reverse appears, or the flowers are 
generally not shown till late in the season, it should be avoided. 
Besides attention to these considerations, there is the disposal of the different kinds of plants 
to their several stations, so as to realise the most effective mingling of colours ; and in doing this, 
beyond the arrangement of colours, the planter should contrive, as much as possible, to select for 
each kind of plant the situation most favourable to its success : for instance, some plants, as the 
Nemophila, love a shady place ; others, as the scarlet Pelargonium, revel in the brightest beams 
of light ; some are so tender or brittle as to wither, or be snapped asunder by a moderate blast ; 
