72 
OPERATIONS FOR APRIL. 
raked afresh when it was dry. In a very short time afterwards, tlie seeds all germinated, and a 
good crop was gathered. This example is precisely analogous to the sowing of flower-seeds in 
wet weather, and then either treading or raking them in. The texture of the soil is hardened, air 
and light ai^e excluded, and the seeds cannot vegetate. 
In shrubbery borders that are distant from any principal walk, or are seen from a prominent 
point that is not very near them, it is advisable to sow the annuals in somewhat lai'ger patches 
than is usually done. The small circlets commonly made, and which, when the plants are 
propei'ly thinned, cannot contain more than five or six specimens, are quite lost when they have 
to be looked at from any far-off position ; and even when they are nearer the eye, their effect is 
not sufficiently decided or striking for borders that have only a few flowers scattered here and 
there over them. Clumps, of from eighteen inches to two or three feet in diameter, with the 
colours of the plants composing them well varied and adjusted, would, on the other hand, have 
a very conspicuous and attractive appearance. We do not mean that there should be more 
than one sort in each group, but that the colours of contiguous patches, or of a series along a 
lengthened and exposed border, should be agreeably harmonised. 
Much attention is now requisite to the growth of exotics in houses or pits. To suggest, as we 
have before done, the elevation of the temperature of such structures by confinement or even by 
artificial means, concurrently with the advancement of the season, may seem absurd to many, 
but it is strictly philosophical and rational. In raising the heat of plant-houses, however, there 
must be at least an equal increase of moisture supplied, and this not only to the roots of plants, 
but in the way of syx'inging and evaporation. Dry heat is congenial to very few exotics, and the 
higher the temperature, the greater is the amount of atmospheric humidity necessary. Scai'cely 
any stoves except those for Orchidacese, have an adequately moist atmosphere, and the thing is 
rarely, if ever, thought of in respect of greenhouses. Still, these latter require it as much as the 
others, in proportion to their heat ; and it will be the end of the skilful cultivator to maintain the 
air of the greenhouse somewhat confined and moist from this time till the middle or end of June. 
We believe the growths of potted plants would be far more free and rich wei'e this rightly 
attended to. 
Orchidaceee will now begin to require shading. Gesneras, Gloxinias, and the species of 
Achimenes must be repotted in a rather enriched loamy soil. Climbers, in the houses, should be 
retained in due order, and kept constantly and regularly trained in any position that they are 
desired to fill. If left much longer than a week without being tended, they can seldom be 
managed neatly. 
Vigorous preparations should be made among the half-hardy plants, for the borders and 
flower-garden. They must be propagated and hardened as fast as possible, and any rambling 
tendency they may evince should be timely checked. The propagation of all other exotics should 
also now be carried on most actively, as the young wood is just in the fittest state for forming 
cuttings which will readily provide themselves with roots, and plants now struck will make excellent 
little specimens for next year's flowering. 
