168 
OPERATIONS FOR AUGUST. 
gradually exposed. The process should be continued until a proper stock is 
obtained. 
Those who desire standard Roses, or wish to have several varieties on one stem, 
should now attend to budding them. It is usually supposed that gardeners alone 
can perform this operation ; but with manual dexterity, and a strict adherence to 
the few simple directions to be found in almost every gardening book, any amateur 
may command success. To vary the ordinary height of standard Roses, it will be 
well to bud a quantity on stocks from eighteen inches to two feet high ; and these, 
if introduced to small flower-gardens, or planted in beds of limited dimensions, will 
have a very pretty effect. 
Seeds should be saved at this period with the greatest care, since those ripened 
now will be as perfect as they possibly can be. Should the weather remain rainy, 
if any choice annuals or biennials are in the open ground, and seeds are sought to 
be obtained from them, the safest plan will be to cover them with a hand-glass, or, 
assuming that they are in a bed, with a frame. Nothing scatters seeds sooner, or 
injures some kinds more while they are forming, than pelting rains ; and there is 
no way of guarding against these but that just spoken of, unless the plants can be 
readily potted and taken to the greenhouse. 
Tender climbers that have been planted out of doors, and have covered the 
space devoted to them, should not be further meddled with except they become 
too wild. Training is indispensable up to this period of their growth ; but as they 
are beginning to flower, they will hereafter look much better if the lateral shoots 
are left to stand out from the wall or trellis. So, with the same class of climbers 
in the houses, they may with propriety be allowed a greater freedom at this time. 
Hard-wooded species must, however, be duly kept in order. 
Among greenhouse and hothouse plants, some will perhaps require repotting 
this month ; though all shifting should be avoided where practicable, on the prin- 
ciple that whatever excites plants to renew their growth at this season is an evil. 
The stoves and all other plant-erections should be opened freely in the day-time, 
and a great deal of air should particularly be admitted to greenhouses, especially to 
those in which Heaths are cultivated. By keeping them in a perpetual current of 
air for the present and the succeeding month, they will not be so likely to take 
mildew. Syringing should be still pursued, though with less vigour. 
Additional sowings of annuals may be made ; Carnations should be layered, if 
they have not yet been done ; Chrysanthemums must be tied to stakes as their 
stems grow, but only three or four of the strongest stems should be retained ; the 
flowers of choice Dahlias can be thinned, to render the remaining ones finer ; 
seedling Dahlias ought to be thrown away as soon as they are proved valueless, 
being great exhausters of the soil ; Pelargoniums should have their growth cherished 
by a little warmth and atmospheric moisture ; the flower -stems of herbaceous plants 
are to be cut off as they die ; Ixias and other Cape bulbs must be kept gradually 
less moist ; Box-edgings and other evergreen hedges may be clipped ; and vacant 
beds can be turned over before being re-filled, but they should not be manured. 
