426 
A STKOLL THROUGH THE GARDEN, 
BY A TUTOR AND HIS PUPIL, IN THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER. 
"We will take advantage of fine weather 
now and go round the gardens, for this is a 
trying month. One slight frost Avould cut off 
all the dahlias, and they would be lost to us 
for the season. As early as the 7th, I have 
known every flower destroyed in some locali- 
ties, and the plants cut down altogether. At 
present they are in full vigour and excellent 
condition. Those which are remarkable for 
two colours highly contrasted, are called fancy 
dahlias ; those v/liich are all of a colour, or 
only slightly edged with a colour darker than 
the ground, are not fancy ones. The plants 
have grown so large, that instead of one stake 
holding them in their position, there are four 
to each, three of them angularly placed ; the 
other is the principal stake, to which they 
were originally fastened. All this involves 
trouble; but it is of no use attempting to grow 
any dahlias without trouble. The wind is so 
powerful on a large plant, that the strongest 
ties are necessary to keep them from destruc- 
tion altogether. Auriculas, having undergone 
repotting, require nothiirg more but winter 
protection in their own cold frames, and 
to be covered against frosts. The seed that 
had been left on the plants has been picked 
off; but when the seed is not required, the 
truss ought to be taken off directly the bloom 
is over. 
The choice geraniums, verbenas, and other 
tender plants in the borders, will not be safe 
long ; therefore the gardener will take them 
up, pot them, and give them winter-quarters. 
All the 'camellias and greenhouse plants yon- 
der will be removed to their houses almost 
immediately. Previously, however, to remov- 
ing them, the pots will be looked over and 
cleaned, the dead leaves picked off, the drainage 
examined, and the plants prepared for their re- 
spective places in the pit, greenhouse, or conser- 
vatory; for some will be better there than any 
where else, such, for instance, as the early sorts 
of hybrid rhododendron, and the choice potted 
Americans. In the mean time, the houses are 
being cleaned out and washed all over inside. 
In the borders we shall see the autumn 
bulbs, such as the colchicum, the Amaryllis 
lutea (or, as it is now called, Oporanihiis 
luteus) now just ready to bloom. The late 
flowering annuals are in fine order. The 
chrysanthemums are showing their buds, and 
if the autumn be fine, they will make a good 
show. The layers on the carnations and pico- 
tees are rooted, and ready to cut off. I will 
just show you this layer ; first, observe that 
I remove the earth from the surface down 
to where the stem is under ground, and take 
away the peg or hook that fastens it down ; 
now I thrust this stick into the earth by the 
side, so that I lift the roots and soil altogether 
with the layer ; you observe the fibres are 
strong, and that they come out from the part 
above where the notch is begun. Now, when 
this is taken off, the stem is cut through nearer 
to the old plant than is necessary; but when 
off, and we have the layer in our hand, w^e 
take all the stem off with a sharp knife close 
to the root, so that the plant is complete. 
These are all served in that Avay, and potted 
in pairs in forty-eight sized pots, with clean 
loam without dung, but with some crocks at 
the bottom, to secure a good drainage ; they 
will then be put into the garden frames on a 
hard bottom, and covered with the glass from 
excessive wet and extreme frost. 
The smooth-barked roses may be propa- 
gated now from cuttings, which may be placed 
a great many in a pot close together, and 
these that have been cut in have most likely 
been cut for that purpose. Considering the 
season, the gardens look still very gay. The 
Michaelmas daisies — and of these you ob- 
serve many varieties — are in full flower. 
The fruit garden is in high order. Many 
of the fruits are in perfection ; the grapes in 
the open air are colouring; many of the apples 
and pears are now being gathered, but it is 
too early in the day for that work. Fruit 
ought never to be gathered until the sun has 
been out a while; for it ought to be thoroughly 
dr}', or it endangers the keeping so much. 
The kitchen garden has produced some of the 
useful crops. The potatoes which the man 
has taken up are of the early kinds, but fully 
ripe enough to be preserved. Onions also are 
rapidly ripening ; many of them have been 
pulled up and stored, others are lying on 
the surface to harden and dry. The man 
ahead of us is making a horse-radish bed ; 
observe, he makes a trench eighteen inches 
deep, and sets at the bottom a row of pieces 
of the root indiscriminately cut about an inch 
long, and v/hen he has put them in, he makes 
the next trench, as you will see, and fills up 
the first with the soil he takes out of the 
second ; he w'ill continue this to the end. It 
was once thought that the crown only of the 
horse-radish would grow, but this was a po- 
pular error ; the root will grow at any part. 
The man you see gathering is securing the 
beans and peas for seed, for you will observe 
the haulm is quite dead. All the ground will 
be cleared after he has gathered the seed, and 
the whole space planted with the various sorts 
of winter greens, such as brocoli, cabbages, 
