June 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
129 
Raspberries. —Let us beg our friends to be sure 
and thin away as many waste suckers as are not 
wanted for the next year. This benefits the crop 
exceedingly, as well it may. The double-bearing 
raspberries must only have a couple or three suckers 
to each stool, and these should bo carefully fastened 
to stakes, or some other contrivance. We generally 
form a continuous rail, and train them thinly on 
this, for unless they are in a position to receive all 
the sunlight they will not succeed. 
Red and White Currants. —It is a capital prac¬ 
tice at this period to go over all these bushes, and 
remove a portion of the young shoots, stopping them 
after the manner of other fruits. We perform this 
operation with the garden shears, dubbing about 
one-third of the tops oil'; and, by passing the shears 
round the sides, reducing the lateral spray in about 
the same ratio. This improves both size and flavour 
of the fruit, and prevents the young shoots from 
being broken by wind-waving. 
Wasps.— Every attention should be paid to search¬ 
ing for the nests of these pests of the fruit-garden. 
We pay six-pence a nest for them through May and 
June, and three-pence each afterwards. Much may 
be done by their timely destruction. 
R. Errington. 
THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 
Routine Management. —This being a busy time 
of the year, there are many things to attend to under 
this head. ()ur cottage friends will now, as the days 
are long, have time to do much of pleasant work in 
their gardens. We would not have them, by any 
means, neglect their fruit and vegetables; but, at the 
same time, we advise them, with all our might, to at¬ 
tend to their flowers. As there is nothing that for¬ 
wards work so much as being methodical in all ope¬ 
rations, we would say to you, set apart a certain hour 
or hours in each week to the culture of tlie orna¬ 
ments of your garden—the flower-beds and borders. 
These include the shrubs, the herbaceous perennials, 
the biennials, and the annuals, besides the florist 
flowers. These last-named we hope all our readers 
cultivate more or less, and for instructions about 
them we refer to the head under which they are 
treated upon, in some degree, every week. 
The Shrubbery. —At no time of the year does 
the English shrubbery present such a beautiful ap¬ 
pearance as now: the laburnum, with its elegant 
golden tassels; the lilac, with its beautiful spikes 
of sweet-smelling flowers ; the scarlet thorn, weighed 
down so as to form wreaths of lovely tinted bloom; 
and the guelder rose, with its balls of snow. These, 
together with the beautiful white Spanish or Portugal 
broom, the rhododendrons, azaleas, &c.—combined 
with their light green foliage—render our shrubberies, 
now, the most lovely of all sights. Who would not 
love to wander in such beauteous scenes as those? 
what minds are so callous and insensible as not to be 
gratified with such simple pleasures ? We pity, with 
all our heart, such of our fellow-creatures as are so 
circumstanced, either by occupation or health, as to 
be prevented any day from contemplating and enjoy¬ 
ing the beauties of a garden at this peculiar season 
of the year. The man whose heart is rightly in tune 
will, in the fulness of feelings, exclaim, “ What a 
beautiful world we live in! how wise and gracious is 
the divine Creator of those lovely objects, and how 
thankful we ought to be that He has bestowed upon 
us so many blessings, with a capacity to enjoy and 
appreciate them!” The first employment of the first 
man upon earth was to “ dress the garden,” even in a 
state of innocence, and it is certain he enjoyed that 
pleasant occupation; and the same pleasure, though in 
a less degree and with more labour—for, alas! we 
have nowtoroot up the “ thorns and the thistles”—still 
rewards the industrious tiller of the ground. The 
shrubs that we have cared for, propagated, and 
planted, now gratefully produce their flowers and 
fragrance to delight our senses, stimulating us to 
continue our care, to insure a continuance of those 
innocent delights. 
At this season shrubs require but little attention: 
keep them cleared from weeds. Newly-planted ones 
will require plentiful supplies of water in dry wea¬ 
ther. Such as have been staked should be examined, 
to see that the tics do not injure them by being too 
tight. Prune away all dead branches, cutting them 
down to the living part of the shrub. Remove such 
strong growing shoots as are likely to rob the rest of 
their due share of support. Should any branches be 
so heavy with bloom that there is danger of breaking, 
especially when wet with rain, prop them up with a 
two-pronged stake till the flowers drop. 
Herbaceous Perennials. —Several species of these 
desirable ilowers will now require sticks to support 
their advancing flower-shoots. It is very necessary 
to apply such supports early, to secure the flower- 
stems from growing crooked, or being broken with 
heavy rains. Be in time with this as well as every 
other needful operation. Use the hoe and rake fre¬ 
quently, to keep down weeds and give a fresh appear¬ 
ance to the borders. Nothing shows more that you 
care for the well-being of your flowers than the fre¬ 
quent use of those necessary instruments. 
P ropagation .—The large families of phloxes, pen- 
stemons, campanulas, delphiniums (larkspurs), che- 
lones, dianthuses (pinks), &c.,may be propagated now 
by cuttings under hand-glasses, placed in a shady 
situation. If struck and potted separately they make 
fine plants for the following season. A number of 
plants of this description produce bottom shoots that 
will not flower this year : these make excellent cut¬ 
tings or slips, as they are sometimes called. Take 
these off carefully with a sharp knife, and treat simi¬ 
lar to the more woody cuttings ; like them they will 
make strong plants for next year. Hepaticas, and all 
similar early blooming plants, may now be divided, 
and planted in a border shaded from the sun; they will 
there make fresh roots and nice tufty plants, to be 
planted in the borders in autumn, to produce their 
welcome flowers in the early season of spring. 
Biennials. —Wallflowers, Brompton and Queen 
stocks, Honesty, French honeysuckles, Hollyhocks, 
Canterbury bells, Antirrhinums, Sweet-williams, Rose 
campions, and sweet Scabious, may now be sown in 
an open situation, in moderately rich soil; sow thinly: 
there is nothing gained by sowing thickly. Water 
gently in dry weather every evening. 
Annuals (to flower late).—Some kinds may yet be 
sown, such as candy-tuft (purple and white), clarkias, 
collinsia, esch seholtzias, gillias, kaulfussia, dwarf lark¬ 
spurs, leptosiplion, nasturtiums, nemophila, ten- 
week stocks, and viscaria oculata. These will all 
flower, and make the garden look gay in the later 
months of the year. 
There are also several kinds of perennials that at 
this season of the year it will be proper to sow. Wo 
will mention a few of the best. Delphiniums, hearts¬ 
ease or pansies, lathyrus azureus, linums, lupinus 
polyphyllus,nuttallia,papaver bracteatum, peas (ever¬ 
lasting), potentillas, stenactis, phloxes, and penste- 
mons. Seeds of all these may be had from any re- 
