120 
OPERATIONS FOR JUNE. 
gained ; \iz. that of affording each of these kinds of plants its requisite treatment. 
By retaining the healthy and more delicate sorts in the house, they will be spared 
many injuries to which they must necessarily be subjected in the open air ; and the 
transplantation of the weakly ones to the flower border, will have the effect of 
restoring their relaxed energies, and infusing into them new luxuriance and 
vigour. 
Cactaceous plants, particularly the Epiphyllous sorts, derive considerable ad- 
vantage from summer exposure. We have recently had an opportunity of observing 
that those individuals who succeed best in flowering these plants, annually place 
them in the open air, for two or three months subsequent to the cessation of their 
growth. In most cases, this will cause them to assume a somewhat brownish hue, 
which, however, entirely forsakes them when again excited, and does not per- 
manently detract from their appearance. The result of this system is also more 
than equivalent to the temporary deformity it occasions ; for the flowers produced 
are far more splendid and profuse than those of the plants which are kept con- 
tinually in the house. 
The flower garden and borders; being now thoroughly furnished with ornamental 
plants, primary attention must be bestowed upon the operation of training and 
supporting them. Next to the disposition of a pleasure garden, and the arrangement 
of the plants, nothing tends so much to embellish it as a neat and judicious method 
of staking each object that requires it. Amateurs, especially, are particularly 
neglectful of this, or perform it very unskilfully ; in which last case, the aspect 
of the plants is decidedly worse than if they were left to grow naturally. 
To render the practice of staking effectual in fulfilling the desired end, without 
at the same time exhibiting prominently the materials used, it is incumbent on the 
cultivator to apply stakes to all those plants which may be supposed to need 
them, at a very early period of their growth. " As the twig is bent, the bough is 
inclined," is an aphorism familiar to every one, and as literally true in its direct 
sanse, as in a moral one. Upon this then every cultivator should act. By support- 
ing a plant in its required position, when only about four or six inches high, no 
difficulty will be afterwards experienced in retaining it there ; neither will its 
foliage have to be inverted or disturbed for this purpose, as is very frequently the 
case. 
"Where plants have more than one stem, each should be the subject of a separate 
ligature, unless they can be collectively secured, without exposing the band employed, 
or confining or deranging the leaves, or any portion of them. Care should always be 
exercised in keeping all parts of the leaves and lateral branches perfectly free, as 
well as in their natural position. If this particular be efficiently performed at the 
present time, the only other attention of the kind that will be requisite throughout 
the ensuing summer, will be the occasional application of an additional band of 
matting as the plants advance in height, or the substitution of a larger one in those 
instances where they increase considerably in diameter. 
