192 
OPERATIONS FOR SEPTEMBER. 
In the orchidaceous house and stove all the pots should be carefully examined, 
and those in which water is observed to stagnate, owing to inefficient drainage, 
should receive immediate attention. In most cases it will be better to turn out 
the plant entirely, very carefully remove some of the external soil from the 
ball of earth about the roots, and repot it in fresh soil ; for if this shift is not 
now effected, it is more than probable that the plant will perish during the 
winter. No plants should be potted at this season under any other circumstances 
than those just mentioned, except such a change is peculiarly requisite, as it is 
desirable that no stimulus be applied to induce them to continue growing. As the 
temperature of the external atmosphere declines, that of the plant-stoves should be 
decreased to a commensurate extent, and not, as is absurdly done, augmented in 
consequence ; for it is incompatible with the health of plants to keep their func- 
tions in unabated action. Besides being manifestly inimical and irrational, such a 
practice could not be successfully pursued in this country, for this single reason ; 
that however easy it may be to supply the plants with artificial heat, it is impos- 
sible to produce a substitute for light ; and solar light is as essential to a healthy 
growth, as heat is to induce any elongation or development of the parts of the 
plant. With a diminution of heat, a less supply of water will be necessary, and 
the latter must always be proportioned to the former, with due regard to particular 
circumstances. 
Those greenhouse plants which have been placed in the open air, must be well 
protected or housed towards the end of the month, and where practicable, they 
should be elevated to within a foot or eighteen inches of the glass. Air cannot be 
too freely admitted into the greenhouse in fine weather ; and, as in the stove, it 
should be specially ascertained that every plant has an efficient drainage before the 
winter commences, watering them only when the surface of the soil becomes dry. 
Those plants which are intended for forcing during the winter, should be daily 
exposed to as much light as possible in the open air, as this will prepare them for, 
and greatly promote, a premature development of their flowers. All young stock 
should be placed on shelves, at a slight distance from the glass, which, where such 
convenience exists in the house, is preferable to frames. Annuals may still be 
sown in pots, particularly stocks and mignonette, to flower early in the spring. 
Theprincipal seed-harvest in the flower-garden will occurthis month, directions for 
collecting which have already been given in our last number. Continue to propagate 
with all possible expedition all plants which have been planted out in the flower- 
garden, and will not endure the open air through the winter. Measures should 
be taken to entrap earwigs on Dahlias, by suspending any slight hollow tubes from 
different parts of the plant, and occasionally examining them, and shaking out 
the insects into hot water. The seed of biennial and perennial plants should be 
sown as soon as it is ripe in an open exposed situation. A few of the hardier kinds 
of annuals may likewise now be sown in the open ground, where they can be shel- 
tered as much as possible from cutting winds during the winter. 
