318 
CALENDARIAL MEMORANDA FOR AUGUST. 
Radish .—Both the common sorts and the black Spanish may be sown 
twice in the month. Also any other salad plants, as mustard, cress, &c. 
Mushrooms _If these be particularly wanted in October a bed should 
be made about this time. Prepare dung for beds to be made in Sep¬ 
tember. 
The general business in the kitchen garden is gathering crops as they 
become fit for use; such as peas, common and kidney beans, artichokes, 
cauliflowers, &c. Cleaning and earthing up all rowed crops, as broccoli, 
Michaelmas cauliflowers, cabbage, celery, &c. ; blanching endive: 
gathering for storing, onions, shallots, garlic, herbs, flowers and seeds 
for dying. Guard seed-beds from birds, slugs, &c.; clip box-edgings 
and hedges ; kill weeds, and remove every kind of decayed leaves, and 
rubbish from every part of the garden. 
Fruit garden .—The grape vine, and all other fruit-trees on walls, 
require constant inspection. Supernumerary shoots or fruit may require 
to be displaced ; and the leading and reserved shoots for next year’s 
bearing, should be kept closely laid in; as well to prevent their being 
broken by the wind, as to assist the perfect ripening of the young 
wood. 
Many sorts of fruits are now ripe or ripening ; besides gathering for 
table in the early part of the day, the ungathered fruit will need 
constant attention to gather before they drop, and protection from birds, 
wasps, and other insects, as well as snails and slugs, which destroy 
much fruit as soon as it becomes set. The supplies of small fruit 
for the housekeeper’s purposes are generally an ample drain; but the 
day of gathering of each sort should be fixed by the gardener, who 
ought to be the best judge when the greatest quantity can be had at 
one time; because, in all confectionary preparations, it is always 
desirable to have the whole that may be required, if possible, at once. 
Keeping the ground under fruit-trees clean and smooth, very much 
assists the ripening and giving flavour to the fruit; the reflection of 
the sun’s heat is particularly useful in this case. Retarding the 
ripening of small fruits, and thereby prolonging their appearance at 
table is a part of the gardener’s duty. Some sorts of gooseberries, 
currants, plums, and morella cherries on north walls, may be covered with 
mats or other materials, (to repel flies and wet weather), and thereby 
preserve the fruit fora month or two after the usual season. Even the 
fruit on standard gooseberry and currant trees, if carefully matted, may 
be preserved in good condition for a considerable time. This memo¬ 
randum comes too late, perhaps, for most of our readers in the south of 
the Island, but it may not be so for those in the north. 
Strawberries.—This, is a good time in which to make new planta- 
