119 
OPERATIONS FOR JUNE. 
' The hurry and bustle created by the numerous operations which constantly urge themselves 
on the attention, and call forth the whole energies of the cultivator in the earlier months of the 
year, will now have partially subsided. The great works of spring, such as potting, sowing seeds, 
providing plants, and executing plans for the embellishment of the greenhouses, the lawn, and 
the parterre, during the ensuing summer, will be in an advanced stage towards completion : there 
will consequently be more leisure to attend to minuter details, and to improve general appearance 
by greater attention to individual parts. 
Frost need no longer be feared ; for the ground has now acquired heat sufficient to render us 
pretty secure from its occurrence. All provision which has been reserved for security against 
injury from this foe may be safely removed ; and this ought always to be one of the first 
operations of June, unless extraordinarily unfavourable weather should render their retention 
desirable for a week or two longer. It is always objectionable to retain anything that can be 
avoided about the flower-garden which betrays weakness, or impresses the mind with a conviction 
that the objects seen around are in a situation unsuited to their constitution, and, consequently, 
that they are unnatural to the locality. Everything, as far as practicable, should wear an aspect 
of propriety and ease ; for an idea of constraint comports ill with the feelings and associations that 
an otherwise well-arranged and neatly-kept pleasure-ground tends to draw forth. 
But it must not be supposed that we intend by these observations to object to houses for 
rearing and displaying plants wholly unfitted for open air culture. Here we are obliged to 
acknowledge the insufficient command of art over nature. It is only where delicate and tender 
plants are used to supply the place of some of the hardier and less beautiful, that we enjoin 
obedience to the foregoing direction. A conservative wall is an object of interest, if so managed 
that the plants appear rather to be placed there to cover an unsightly object, than the wall built 
as a protection for a tender plant. 
Now is a proper time to trim and train the growing shoots of plants that require to be placed 
against a conservative wall, and especially such as evince a disposition to grow long and weak. 
This will materially promote their early maturity, and endue them with a greater power of 
resistance against the severity of the succeeding winter. It will also greatly improve the appear- 
ance of the plants and the probability of profuse bloom. But it must not be carried to too gi^eat 
an extent. Shrubby plants that flower on short twiggy shoots, and do not ramble too far from 
the wall, should be allowed to grow in their natural position, and will only require to be occasion- 
ally thinned and regulated when too much crowded, to permit all to be fully exposed to light 
and air. 
Much of the beauty of a lawn, and thereby of the whole garden, where this is a reigning 
feature, depends on the frequent application of the scythe. When grass is allowed to grow long, 
it is almost impossible to cut it without leaving the marks of the scythe, and this ought always 
to be avoided as much as possible ; and, moreover, the lawn is deprived of that lively and 
I'cfreshing green when the grass is cut, vv-hich forms one of its chief recommendations. Daisies, 
and other flowers, too, appear, and detract from the interest that a lawn properly attended to is 
capable of producing. 
Verbenas, Petunias, and all the host of half-hardy border plants, though now turned out into 
their quarters for the summer, are not to be left to themselves. They will still require tendance 
to induce them to cover their allotted surface in good season. Strong rampant growth should be 
pinched back, in order that lateral branches may be formed, to produce a closely compact and 
verdant cover, instead of a few rambling, straggling shoots. Salvia patens and S, fulgens^ and 
other upright-growing species, Pentstemon gentianoides and all its varieties, the different species 
of Phlox and Lychnis, as well as many other plants of similar character, should have their 
branches spread out and fastened to the ground with small hooked pegs. By this means they 
may be made to cover a greater surface ; the horizontal position of the shoots will encourage the 
growth of laterals, and the use of stakes will be avoided ; and, at the same time, the dwarf, close> 
and even character, will be a striking improvement on the beauty of the bed. 
