72 
OPERATIONS FOR APRIL, 
To maintain an adequate temperature in houses at this time, fires may be occasionally 
employed for stoves, and greenhouses should be kept more closely shut up than they are at an 
earlier and later period. Air, except on very warm days, and when there is little wind, with the 
external atmosphere genial and balmy, must be sparingly given, and a greater amount of moisture 
should be retained within the houses. 
No one will mistake the object of these directions, which are designed to render the plants 
vigorous and healthy at the time when their yearly growth is made ; a time, it must be seen, at 
which the entire condition of the plant is often much changed for the better or the worse, and 
when the subsequent state of the specimens is permanently determined. And although some 
persons consider a current of air highly useful if not indispensable to a growing plant, we conceive 
it will be found that vegetation takes a healthy tone far more from light, heat, and moisture in 
the spring, requiring more air to consolidate and strengthen the new parts during summer and 
autumn, after they are thoroughly formed. It must not be thought, however, that we condemn 
the admission of air altogether during this month : we merely wish to urge the advantage of 
maintaining a somewhat confined atmosphere in plant structures ; and air will of course be essen- 
tial if the temperature rises above a moderate degree, which it certainly will under the influence 
of an unclouded April sun. 
With the progress of the season, a stronger necessity will become apparent for shading such 
plants as Orchidacese. Several plans of shading are practised by different individuals. Some 
have the glazed portion of the roof covered thinly with a glutinous and dark-coloured wash, which 
will gradually wear off by the action of rain towards the end of the season, but lasts long enough 
to effect the purpose for which it is employed. Others stretch loose straw bands across the roof 
horizontally, at a distance of nine inches or a foot, and these serve at all times to throw a partial 
shade over the plants. Both the above systems are objectionable, on account of their shading 
the house during the entire day, and both in dull and bright weather. We consequently prefer a 
thin canvas shade, which can be rolled on or off in less than a minute when required, and has 
a far neater appearance. 
Potting should be continued with those species that may not have been previously shifted, 
and also with such as have already been once potted but now demand a second shifting. The 
commoner leafy or stem-like kinds of Cactus may be repotted as other plants. But the round- 
headed sorts very seldom need shifting, as their roots are so scanty. We have had them in the 
finest health for five or six years in the same pot, and the specimen is frequently as large as 
(sometimes larger than) the pot in which it is growing. Pelargoniums, Calceolarias, and plants 
of similar character, must be constantly attended to with regard to potting, and be kept in a 
rather moist and warm atmosphere. 
Plants intended for the flower- borders must be propagated, potted, or hardened, as fast as 
possible, and the shoots that they now make should be carefully cut off. It matters not whether 
these last are used for further multiplication or thrown away. The end for which they are to be 
removed is to cause the plants to remain dwarf, and to produce a number of lateral branches. 
Specimens that have been forced and have ceased flowering, ought not to be cast aside (as is 
usually done) behind a wall or in some similar place, where they would be neglected, and suffered 
almost to perish. There should always be a kind of reserve garden and yard in which to keep 
plants of this character conveniently, either in frames or the open air ; and in such a spot they 
should be carefully watered and tended till they have matured their wood, unless it is meant to 
discard them entirely. 
Mimulus cardinalis, and the dwarfer sorts, may be forthwith divided. Most of the shoots of 
the former have roots at their base, and have only to be detached at once to constitute separate 
plants ; while the shoots of the lower-growing kinds will,;if laid down on the soil, and partially 
covered with earth, speedily emit roots, when they can be safely taken off and potted or trans- 
planted. Annuals may be sown for succession, and the propagation of all woody exotics should 
be begun in earnest. 
