168 
OPERATIONS FOR AUGUST. 
must, if exposed at all, be set somewhere where the whole plant or its roots can be partially 
shaded from the midday sun ; and this shade can be obtained from trees, fi'om a hedge, or from 
a wall or building. That from trees will, perhaps, be best, since they will not tend so much to 
confine the air. A hard impenetrable surface is necessary to stand the pots upon, that no worms 
may enter by the lower aperture. To provide this, where stone cannot be had, a sort of asphalte, 
composed of gas-tar and sifted ashes or road sand, made hot, mixed, and applied in a fluid state 
to the depth of two or three inches, is an excellent substitute. By covering the surface with 
sifted road-sand, and applying a little of this whenever the composition is inclined to become 
fluid at the top, a hard and most durable kind of pavement will be obained. The gas-tar can 
be procured for little or nothing at any gas-works, and the labour of putting it down is very 
trifling. 
While the greenhouses are empty, they should be thoroughly cleaned, repaired, painted, and 
whitewashed. Cleanliness is not only essential to their good appearance, but to prevent them from 
harbouring insects and dust, which are at all times an annoyance to the cultivator, and a great 
cause of injury to his plants. It is a proof of bad management when these things are done 
while the plants remain in the house, or late in the year, and also occasions much inconvenience, 
as well as great detriment to the specimens. When the greenhouses are completed, and every- 
thing thoroughly dry, the flues or heating apparatus being likewise put in order or cleaned, the 
stove plants can be transferred thither while the stoves are similarly repaired. We must not 
fail to observe that greenhouse plants which are taken out of the houses should always be placed 
where they can readily be transferred to the houses, or to sheds, or beneath other coverings, on 
the occurrence of heavy and continued rain. 
To greenhouses, until the plants are taken from them, and to all kinds of stoves, air should 
be given more liberally than it has been since last autumn. Permanent plants, that actually 
demand it, may be potted ; but it is better not to shift specimens after the present time, if it can 
be obviated. Gesneras, Achimenes coccinea^ and such like plants, ought, when they have ceased 
flowering, to be allowed to die down by degrees. Their decay must not be precipitated ; nor 
should they be excited to continue growing. Just enough water to preserve them from flagging 
will be the best assistant to their natural defoliation— more or less would alike be harmful. 
Camellias and tender Rhododendrons may be placed out for a month behind a wall, or in 
some shaded situation where the noonday sun cannot reach them. They will be benefited by 
air, but not by too much light. Cereuses may also be removed from the house about the end 
of the month, and a full exposure will rather improve than hurt them. Pelargoniums can still 
be kept in a rather confined atmosphere till they have formed good new shoots, when they 
should be rapidly passed to the greenhouse, and from thence to a frame or pit, which can ulti- 
mately be left open almost continuously. 
The stock to fill the flower-garden and borders next summer must now be thought of. Where 
plenty of frames for preserving it in winter are possessed, propagation cannot, after this, be 
begun too soon. Fuchsias, Heliotropes, Calceolarias, and the extensive tribe related to them in 
habit, can be increased forthwith from cuttings. A little prepared stable litter, made into a 
hillock, and covered first with pieces of inverted turf and then with soil, or sawdust, or old bark, 
will serve to support a few hand-glasses or a frame, and to aff'ord heat enough both for multi- 
plying the above common plants, and also the more simple greenhouse and stove species. The 
cuttings can be planted in a bed of earth, or, what is better, placed in pots, which should be plunged 
in either of the before-mentioned materials. 
