144 
OPERATIONS FOR JULY. 
still greater variety if they are liberally treated. The adoption of this hint may, 
therefore, be left to the culturist's wishes or discretion. 
By transferring sickly greenhouse plants to a prepared border in a favourable 
spot during the months of June and July, incalculable good may be effected. But 
all this will be more than lost upon them if they are not restored to pots before 
cold weather commences, so as to check their propensity to grow too much beyond 
the natural term. They can be freely suffered to luxuriate for a short time ; in 
fact, this is the principal design of their exposure : nevertheless, when they are 
discovered to be advancing at a more rapid rate than is consistent with their 
habits, or than comports with the due maturation of their shoots, prudence 
suggests that a speedy removal should be made. For specimens that are to be 
planted in the beds of conservatories, and which are consequently wished to form 
healthy and large plants as soon as possible, nothing can be more suitable than a 
summer's indulgence in an open spot, where they will acquire more vigorous and 
less diffuse habits than if retained beneath glass. Much care is of course necessary 
in their transplantation. 
Annuals and other plants that happen to be sown in dry weather, and the 
seeds of which do not all vegetate at the same time, must not be supposed to have 
failed until copious showers of rain have fallen. We were witnesses, about two 
months back, to the unconscious destruction of a large quantity of beautiful 
plants, some of the seeds having sprouted nearly a month sooner than others ; and 
this having led the cultivator to surmise they were imperfect, he hoed the ground 
containing them, and thus effectually prevented them from growing. On a small 
portion that was left unstirred, the remaining seeds, after frequent heavy rains, all 
produced plants, which have since thriven most exuberantly. Many seeds are 
much more hardened than others in the process of ripening, and many are likewise 
kept for several years and then mingled with more recent ones, both of which 
causes will occasion a wonderful difference in the period of their development. 
July being indisputably the hottest month in the year, on account of the 
greater degree of heat in the earth and terrestrial substances, it is clear that this 
provision of Nature is intended to answer some useful end in vegetable economy, 
and that end is accordingly apparent to physiologists in the fact that a great 
temperature is requisite to perfect the accretions of plants. Seeing, then, that 
heat is now naturally at its highest point, it follows that it should be the same in 
all plant houses ; and hence a too liberal admission of air is unwise and improper, 
and it is better to counteract the agency of a high temperature by supplying a 
little more water. Still, it must not be assumed that, otherwise than by comparison 
with its temperature, this month should be regarded as the one in which most 
water is needed ; for vegetation requires more actual moisture in May and June 
than at any subsequent epoch. Syringing may be daily continued, and shading 
is highly needful to all plants with a very tender tissue. Multiplication by cuttings 
is to be performed wherever it is necessary. 
