428 THE GREEN-HOUSE. [June. 
You never should put sheep-dung, or any other, in the water, as 
is practised bj many persons to the great injury of their plants; for 
these strongly impregnated waters, instead of aftbrding nourish- 
ment, cause the leaves to change to a pale sickly colour, and ulti- 
mately bring on a general debility; they operate like hot liquors 
on human bodies, which, at first taking, seem to add new vigour, 
yet, after some time, leave the body weaker than before. 
If mowings of short grass, or some moss, be spread on the sur- 
face earth of the large tubs or pots of oranges, lemons, &c., it will 
preserve the moisture and defend the upper roots from the sun and 
drying air. 
Such of the pots with plants, as are plunged in the earth, must 
be turned fully around in their seats once a week to break off such 
fibres as extend through the holes at bottom into the surrounding: 
earth; for the reasons of doing this see pages 402 and 403. 
Some people thin what they consider the superabundant blos- 
soms of oranges and lemons; this I do not approve of, as it is 
probable that such as would set the best fruit might be plucked off 
as well as any other; therefore, it will be the better way to suffer 
the whole bloom to remain, and if too abundant a crop of fruit 
should happen to set to thin them soon after to a suflicient number. 
However, where some are wanted for making orange-flower water, 
the smallest may be picked off where they appear in clusters, 
leaving the largest and most promising. Any declining myrtles, 
or other hard-wooded plants, may be greatly restored to strength 
and vigour by turning them out of their pots, earth and all, and 
placing the balls in baskets made of peeled or dried willows, and 
plunging these in the open borders till September; when they are 
to be taken up, the extending roots trimmed off, the baskets cut 
away, and the plants with the entire balls replanted in suitable 
sized pots or tubs, after which they are to be placed in the shade 
till housed. 
Propagating the Plants. 
Myrtles may be propagated abundantly towards the middle or 
latter end of the month by slips or cuttings of the present year's 
wood, as may also hydrangeas, fuschias, China and Otaheite roses; 
coronillas, bupthalmum fruticosum, geraniums, jasmines, heliotro- 
piums, and almost every other kind of shrubby or under shrubby 
plants; observing when dressed and the under leaves taken off to, 
plant them three, four, or five inches deep, according to their 
respective lengths, in wide garden pans or pots filled with light 
rich earth, or into beds of similar earth, where they can have occa- 
sional shade and waterings till rooted. However, the covering of 
them with bell-glasses will greatly facilitate their rooting and pro- 
mote their growth, which, for the reasons assigned in page 423, is 
by fai- the most eligible method, but particularly for woody plants, 
and such others as are not of the succulent tribe. 
This is also a very proper time to propagate succulent plants of 
