144 
OPERATIONS FOR JULY. 
On account of the coldness of the weather during the late spring, a number of the half-hardjr j 
plants that have been placed out in the flower-beds and borders have had part of their foliage 
turn yellow, or even fall off ; and some of them have even become so generally unhealthy that it j 
will be desirable to take them away entirely, pot them, and place them in frames for furnishing | 
cuttings wherewith to propagate the sort, and supply their places with better plants from the 1 
greenhouse or frames, where they happen to be possessed. It is much better thus to sacrifice a \ 
few inferior specimens than to have a bad season's bloom, or to have it come very late, which i 
would inevitably be the case were the sickly and feeble plants left in their present state. | 
It will also be observed that, from the same cause, where the plants are really unhealthy, i| 
they will evince a disposition to flower prematurely, or with a degree of imperfection which is j 
by no means equal to what they are desired to display. In these instances it will be advisable at | 
once to cut off the blossoms, in order t@ throw the whole energies of the plant into activity on | 
the work of producing young lateral shoots, which are now chiefly to be wished for, and must | 
always exist ere any proper production of flowers can take place. As a rule for this and all 
similar circumstances, it may be affirmed that no plant should be suffered to flower till it has 
developed a sufficiency of lateral shoots to make the expansion of blossoms both safe to the j 
specimen and likely to be generally profuse and brilliant. 
The effect of the late rains, in beating down all out-door specimens (even those of a compara- 
tively strong nature) that have not been adequately supported, will show, in a very conspicuous 
manner, the necessity for staking every plant that is the least inclined to be weak. The great 
point to be observed is, as we have often before said, to apply whatever kind of stake is needed, j 
or to attend to any requisite training, in quite an early stage of the plant's advancement. Another j 
most important particular, however, is to continue such attentions with the greatest assiduity 
throughout the whole of that part of the season when measures of this order are required. It 
is as prejudicial to a plant to permit it to straggle away from the stake after it has once been 
fixed to it at the base, as it is to let it fall down in the first instance for want of a stake. Every 
shoot, therefore, that has to be trained or supported, must be attended to when it has grown 
three or four inches beyond the point where it was last fastened, and never left to grow out of its 
right position. This remark applies especially to upright- growing species, and it will also include 
all classes of climbers. Where a climbing plant is desired to take a particular direction, 
particularly when this is not exactly the natural one, the neglect of a day or two in fastening 
the newly-formed shoot anew to its trellis will sometimes materially disfigure the specimen for a 
season, and the deformity it causes will ever be more or less perceptible for a longer or a shorter 
period, according to its nature. As this can so readily be avoided, it is very injudicious to 
risk it. 
Annuals sown now, if their seeds be well steeped in lukewarm water before they are com- 
mitted to the ground, will come into flower late in the autumn, should there be no early frosts ; 
and a feature will thus be added to the flower-borders which is very rarely seen at that season. 
Seed should be saved from those whose inflorescence is now departing ; though the better way is, 
in private places where cultivators prefer their own seeds, to keep a few plants in pots, or in a 
bed beneath a frame, for this purpose. The injury of the seed by wet, or its wasteful diffusion 
by the same agent, by wind or otherwise, may thus be better guarded against. 
In the plant-houses, this month, it is of moment that a considerable amount of air should be 
supplied, particularly to green-house and hard-wooded stove species. This is just the period 
when air will be most beneficial to such objects, in order the more effectually to ripen their 
wood, and to bring them into a hardy condition. All kinds may now be propagated, if this has 
not already been done ; and Heaths, with the more hardy of the green-house plants, may be readily 
struck in a cool shaded frame, without any artificial warmth. Pelargoniums must be cut down 
and re-potted as they pass out of bloom, taking care to trim off the roots in the same proportion 
as the branches are pruned. Cacti, which are also losing their flowers, may be transferred to a 
warm house, to perfect their growth. 
This is the time for commencing the operation of budding. Damp or dull weather is the best 
for the process, and should be chosen when it can be had. The practice can be much more 
extensively employed than is commonly thought, and is of great value in giving variety to a 
pleasure-ground, by the insertion of several sorts of flowering trees or shrubs on one stock. 
