1G6 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[July, 
VILLA GAEDENING FOR JULY. 
'^(^0 villa gardener need to sit down and fold liis hands at this season of the 
iy year, for July is a month of great activity in the garden, and from early 
morn till dewy eve there is something in need of being done. 
The Greenhouse. —As in 187G, so again in June of the present year, we 
are experiencing a spell of east winds. They are cooling, but they are excessively 
drying, and plants in pots under glass require plenty of attention in the matter of 
watering. Newly-potted plants require shading from the heat of the sun, even if 
there be no means for shading the whole house. A greenhouse exposed to the 
sun should, if possible, have a roller-blind, but the roller should be heavy enough 
to keep the blind steady when down, while rough winds arc blowing. A blind is 
to be preferred to whitewashing the roof of a greenhouse, because the white¬ 
wash makes the house too dark in dull weather, but it is better than having no 
shading at all. The leading plants in the greenhouse should now be Show, Fancy, 
and Zonal Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, Lilies, Lantanas, Mimulus, Petunias, Balsams, 
(fee., and these will require attention to watering and keeping the plants clean. If 
a few Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, and Petunias are kept pinched back a little later 
than usual, they come into flower later, and maintain the succession. The old 
Musk, for its charming perfume, some Mignonette, and the Lemon plant, as it is 
termed {Aloysia citriodorci), should be grown for the perfume they give forth, 
and Harrison’s New Musk is to be commended on the same ground. Turn the 
plants occasionally, so that they may grow regularly all round ; they make much 
handsomer specimens than when permitted to be drawn one way. 
Chinese Primroses and Cinerarias from the first sowing should now be poti;eil 
as soon as large enough, and placed in a cool frame and kept shaded. Calceolarias 
may be similarly treated. A few cuttings of Zonal Pelargoniums may be taken to 
have plants to flower in Sejjtember. Towards the end of the month some cuttings 
of the best decorative Fuchsias should be put in, to make good specimens for next 
summer. 
Cold Frames.- —The cold frame is now proving very useful for the accommo¬ 
dation of plants that have gone out of flower, while the drying east winds last; 
they are better in the frame, where they can be sheltered from sun and wind. A 
piece of tiffany, sufficiently wide, can be stretched along the lights after they are 
tilted for the admission of air, and fastened at each end. Such hardy plants as 
Anemone fulgens.^ JJodecatheon Meadia.^ Triteleia lilacina., Iheris gibraltarica, 
t:ia'j:ijraga granulata Jlore-pleno., Phlox verna., various Primulas, (fee,, are better in 
a frame than in the open ground, because in exposed places they dry so quickly, 
and are apt to be neglected. Auriculas should be repotted without delay and 
placed in the cold frame. If there is no cold frame, an ash-bed a foot in depth, 
made up in a shady corner, is a good substitute, and if not much exposed to the 
sun, the plants are better simply stood on the ashes than plunged in them. If the 
plants must occupy an exposed place, they are better plunged in cocoa-nut fibre, 
which serves to keep the soil about the roots cool and moist. 
Flower Garden. —The principal work in the garden is tying up plants, keep¬ 
ing them clean l)y picking off dead leaves, pegging down such plants as require 
it, removing decaying flowers, and keeping the flower beds and borders clear of 
weeds and the surface-soil stirred. Some persons in making their flower-borders 
are fond of sloping them towards the edge, and the consequence, even if the surface 
is not kept loose by stirrings is, that when heavy rains come they run off from the 
soil instead of passing into it. The flower-beds will r’ccjuire constant attention, fo r 
