CALENDAR FOR JUNE. 
143 
CALENDAR FOR JUNE. 
The progress of vegetation has been so very slow this season 
that even now, when such numbers of our native flowers ought 
to be in full perfection, they are scarcely to be found, or only 
in so stunted a form as hardly to convey a proper idea of what 
they ought to be. A great majority of the grasses may be 
found, however, during the month, and they will be highly 
interesting to those who have leisure to note the great variety 
of form displayed in a family of plants, among whom the mere 
casual observer would find little to excite attention. The 
Carexes also, and allied genera, will also be in flower in great 
numbers, but the collector will require to have them with their 
fruit near perfection ere he will be enabled to determine their 
names. But perhaps the most interesting family of British 
plants is the Orchises, the most of whom may be found during 
June in the pastures and woods, in the greatest variety, per¬ 
haps, in the south-east of England. They appear to particularly 
delight in a soil varying very little from an equable degree of 
moisture the most of the year, as hazel copses, damp meadows, 
and similar situations, especially on a chalky soil; such a soil 
appearing to retain a certain degree of moisture for a longer 
period than most others. Altogether, perhaps as many of our 
plants are to be found in flower during the present month as in 
any other during the year; it is, therefore, a busy time for the 
home botanist, and no time should be lost in collecting speci¬ 
mens for after arrangement and comparison. 
The flower garden is in rather a transition state, especially 
at the beginning of the month, from the gaiety of spring to the 
splendour of summer, when the plants of nearly all parts of the 
world are turned out to flourish, for a short time, in our variable 
climate. The arrangement of the colours, and of the plants to 
represent those colours, should have been seen to in the winter ; 
if so, the filling up now will have been greatly facilitated. A 
steady eye should also be kept on plants for propagating, espe¬ 
cially in small places, where cuttings may often be taken, and a 
good stock got without disfiguring the plants too much, if taken 
often, instead of in quantities at once. 
