96 
OPERATIONS FOR MAY. 
The process should, however, be performed with as much skill and nicety as if the specimen were 
being repotted, since the effects of the two shiftings are precisely identical. The plant ought to 
be taken cautiously from the pot, divested of its drainage materials, its outer roots loosened and 
spread out regularly and deliberately, and the soil placed around them as if they were intended 
to live and flourish, and not merely to be interred. A few Laurel or Spruce Fir branches, stuck 
in the ground on the exposed side, will serve to ward off sun or wind, should either be too 
powerful ; and on frosty nights occurring, a flower-pot can be inverted over each plant. Where 
the depredations of slugs or snails are feared, two or three leaves of the Lettuce, Cabbage, or | 
other succulent vegetable, strewed on the ground near the specimens, will be sure to attract such I 
vermin, and they may be taken on the under side of these early every morning. The leaves can 
be renewed when they are eaten or withered. 
For planting out tender annuals, or thinning the hardy ones that have been sown in the borders, 
let showery weather be chosen, and do not allow the clumps to contain more than three or four 
plants. The former number is the best, and all others that are suffered to remain will tend to 
make the whole weak and imperfect. Half-hardy annuals should still be sown, both for flowering 
in pots, and for external display late in the autumn. For this end, too, a few of the best hardy 
species may also be sown. 
All plants that have ceased flowering in the borders should have their withered inflorescence | 
removed ; but on no pretext ought the leaves to be taken off or cut down. Many persons cut | 
over the foliage of their Crocuses and early-blooming bulbs level with the ground as soon as the 
flowers have departed ; forgetting that it is through the leaves alone that they can mature their 
growth, and be fit for flowering in the succeeding year. Others remove, with similar severity, all 
the green and upper portions of their herbaceous plants directly their bloom is over, because they 
fancy it has a slovenly look. Such a practice is quite as grossly erroneous ; and, were the flower- 
stalks and decayed leaves alone taken away, the rest would rather adorn the border than render 
it untidy. 
We cannot sufficiently enforce the truth that it is barely possible to stake tall-growing plants 
at too early a period. Dahlias, for instance, should be staked almost immediately after planting, 
and no specimen, however strong, ought to get more than four or five inches high without being 
staked ; provided, of course, that operation is at all needful. No effort will recover a plant when | 
it has once grown unshapely. i 
Greenhouse and stove species, and all other exotics grown beneath glass roofs, are now, for ! 
the most part, in the height of their developments. The temperature ought, therefore, to be 
maintained a little higher than usual, the atmosphere should be more moist, larger supplies of 
water should be given to the plants at the roots, they should be syringed more freely and | 
constantly, and every specimen be repotted as often as the roots reach the edges of the pot, unless f. 
it be intended to retain it in a stunted state, or oppose its further growth. Slightly enrich the 
soil of such plants as Gloxinias at each potting, or give them occasional applications of manure- 
water. Let Hydrangeas, likewise, be watered with some enriched fluid ; and also Primroses, | 
Polyanthuses, and Carnations that happen to be in pots. ' 
For Orchidaceae, daily shading will be requisite, and they should be vigorously excited both by 
heat and moisture. Azaleas, that are in flower, will need an abundance of water. The Camellia- 
house should be kept rather close and warm, and the plants very copiously watered as well as I 
syringed. Rhododendrons, too, demand an immense quantity of water while they are in blossom. 
Pelargoniums and Calceolarias, which are beginning to show for bloom, ought to be well watered, j 
and placed in larger pots if they require it. Great care must be exercised in potting, or otherwise j 
tending them, that sudden checks are not given to their advancement, since these would effectually 
hinder them from flowering finely. Water must be administered largely to tall and blooming 
Cacti at this season ; and the dwarf sorts, such as Echinocactus and its allies, may, about the I 
middle of the month, be put into a hotbed frame for the summer. 
Shoots of greenhouse and stove plants requiring to be multiplied will form excellent cuttings j 
at the present time ; and it is, altogether, the most eligible period for propagating such plants. 
A slight heat, a confined atmosphere, with a command over its conditions, and some degree of 
shade, are the principal things to be provided. Dampness must be always kept under, and its • 
amount daily controlled. 
