Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/303

291 CALENDAR.] HORTICULTURE 291 every ten days. Make up beds for mushrooms with .well-prepared dung towards the end of the month. Plant early potatoes in the first week, and a main crop during the last fortnight. Jerusalem arti chokes, sea-kale, asparagus, and peas raised in frames, may now be planted ; also garlic and shallots. Full crops of cabbages should be planted out ; also cauliflowers under hand-glasses. Propagate by slips, or by earthing up the old stems, the various pot-herbs, as sage, savory, thyme, &c., and increase mint by dividing the roots. Fruit Garden. Finish the pruning of fruit trees before the middle of the month. Protect those coming into blossom. Begin grafting in the third week ; dig and dress between the rows of gooseberries, currants, and other fruit trees, if not already done. Kill wasps assiduously, as soon as they appear. Forcing. Continue the forcing of melons and cucumbers, and the various fruits. Pot pine-suckers and crowns that have been kept in tan during winter, repotting those that require large pots, and about the middle of the month shifting them to the succession pit ; give a top-dressing to the fruiting plants, turning the tan, and adding new bark to the pits, to keep up bottom -heat, where that is used. In the vinery and peach-house, attend to the keeping down of insects by syringing ; and promote the growth of the young shoots, by damping the walls and paths morning and evening. Sow capsicum, egg-plant, and tomato ; also in slight heat such tender herbs as basil and marjoram. Plant Houses. More water may be given than formerly. Sow seeds of greenhouse and hothouse plants ; also the different sorts of tender annuals ; pot off those sown last month ; sow cineraria for the earliest bloom ; also Chinese primulas. Shift heaths and other hard- wooded subjects and stove-plants ; plant tuberoses in pots for forcing. Begin to propagate greenhouse plants by cuttings ; also coleiises by cuttings in heat, and chrysanthemums in moderate heat, potting them off as soon as rooted. Flower Garden and Shrubbery. In the last week, sow hardy annuals in the borders, with biennials that flower the first season, as also perennials. Plant anemone and ranunculus roots ; plant the corms of gladiolus. Transplant from the nursery to their final sites annuals sown in autumn, with biennials and herbaceous plants. Propagate perennials from root-slips and offsets. Protect tulips, hyacinths, and choice flowers from severe weather. Continue to propagate the finer sorts of dahlias, both by cuttings and by division of the roots. Finish the pruning of all deciduous trees and hedges as soon as possible. Attend to the dressing of shrubberies ; lay turf-edgings, and regulate the surface of gravel walks. APRIL. Kitchen Garden. Sow asparagus, sea-kale, Turnip-rooted beet, salsafy, scorzonera, skirret, carrots, and onions on heavy soils ; also marrow peas, Longpod and Windsor beans, turnips, spinach, celery, Enfield Market cabbage, savoys, Brussels sprouts, and German greens, for succession. Sow broccoli and kidney beans both in the second and in the last week, and lettuces and small salads twice or thrice during the month ; sow angelica, caraway, also all sweet herbs, if not done last month. Sow vegetable marrow. Plant cauliflower, cabbages, sea-kale, lettuce ; and finish the plant ing of the main crops of potatoes ; divide and replant artichokes. Propagate all sorts of pot-herbs, and attend to the hoeing and thinning of spinach, onions, turnips, &c. Earth up cabbages, cauliflower, peas, beans, and early potatoes. Stake up peas ; blanch sea-kale and rhubarb in the open air, by covering with straw or leaves. Fruit Garden. If vines have been neglected to be pruned, rub off the buds that are not wanted; this is safer than pruning now. Protect the finer sorts of fruit trees on the walls. The hardier orclwrd-house fruits should now be moved outdoors under temporary awnings, to give the choicer fruits more space, the roots being protected by plunging the pots. Mulch all newly-planted fruit trees, watering abundantly in dry weather. Forcing. Continue the preparation of succession beds and pits for cucumbers and melons. Sow basil in slight heat ; pot and push on tomatoes and capsicums. Attend to the routine culture of the pinery, giving water and air when necessary. In the forcing-houses, from the variable state of the weather, considerable vigilance is required in giving air. Keep down red spider (Acarus) in the more advanced houses by frequent syringingsand a well -moistened atmo sphere. Continue the usual operations of disbudding and thinning of fruit, and take care to keep up the proper temperatures. Plant Houses. Still sow tender annuals if required ; sow cinerarias and primulas. Proceed with all necessary shiftings. Propagate rare and fine plants by cuttings or grafting ; increase bouvardias by cuttings, and grow on for winter flowering. Pot off tender annuals, and cuttings of half-hardy greenhouse plants put in during Feb ruary to get them well established for use in the flower garden. Flower Garden and Shrubbery. Sow main or successional crops of annuals of all sorts half-hardy annuals in warm borders, or on slight hotbeds. Biennials and perennials should be sown before the middle of the month. Plant out gladioli, if not done, tigridias, and fine stocks. Finish the transplanting of herbaceous plants by the end of the first week. Protect stage auriculas and hyacinths from extremes of every description of weather ; and tulips from hoar-frosts and heavy rains. Plant out tender deciduous trees and shrubs raised in pots ; plant out tea-roses, mulching the roots. Remove part of the coverings of all tender shrubs and plants in the first week, and the remainder at the end of the month. Form and repair lawns and grass walks, by laying turf and sowing perennial grass-seeds ; mow the lawns frequently ; plant evergreens. MAY. Kitchen Garden. Sow Pine-apple or Nutting s beet in the first week, small salads every week, radishes and lettuces thrice, spinach once a fortnight, carrots and onions for late drawing, kidney beans in the first week and together with scarlet runners in the last fortnight ; endive for an early crop ; also peas and Long- pod and Windsor beans, cauliflowers, Early York or Little Pixie cab bages, Brussels sprouts, borecole, broccoli, savoys, Buda kale, and German greens, for late crops. Sow anise and basil on a warm border ; and borage and parsley on open spots. Sow vegetable marrows and hard} cucumbers on a warm border in the last week ; sow cardoons in trenches, or (in the north) in pots under glass shelter ; sow chicory for salading. Plant asparagus. Continue hoeing and earth ing up the several crops. Fruit Garden. Disbud peaches, nectarines, and other early trees against the walls : also attend to the thinning of fruit. Give occa- CALENDAR FOR THE UNITED STA TES Continued. month may now be shifted, and the propagation of all plants that are likely to be wanted should be continued. Hardier kinds of annuals may be sown ; it is best done in shallow boxes, say 2 inches deep. Lawns can be raked off and mulched with short manure, or rich garden earth where manure cannot be obtained. Flower beds on light soils may be dug up so as to forward the work of the coming busy spring season. Fruit Garden. In many sections, planting may now be done with safety, provided the soil is light and dry, but not otherwise. Again at this season, although a tree or plant will receive no injury when its roots are undisturbed in the soil should a frost come after planting, the same amount of freezing will and very often does greatly injure the plant if the roots are exposed. Grapery. The grapery started in January will have set its fruit, which should be thinned by one-third. The temperature may now be farther ad vanced to 7(T at night, with 15&quot; higher in the daytime. The same precautions must be used against mildew and insects as given in January. Graperies wanted for succession may be started in February or this month. Vegetable Garden. This is a busy month. In localities where the frost is out of the ground, if it is not wet, seeds of the hardier vegetables can be sown. The list of seeds given for the Southern States in January may now be used at the North, while for most of the Southern States tender&quot; vege tables, such as egg plant, okra, sweet potatoes, melon, squash, potatoes, tomatoes, &c., may be sown and planted. Hotbeds must now be all started! APRIi,. Flower Garden and Greenhouse. Window and greenhouse plants require more water and ventilation. Due attention must be paid to shifting well- rooted plants into larger pots ; and, if space is desired, many kinds of hardier plants can be safely put out in cold frames. Towards the end of the month it may be necessary to slightly shade the glass of the greenhouse. All her baceous plants and hardy shrubs may be planted in the garden. The cover ing of leaves or litter should be taken off bulbs and tender plants that were covered up for winter, so that the beds can be lightly forked and raked. Sow tender annual flower seeds in boxes inside. Fruit Garden. Strawberries that have been covered up with straw or leaves should be relieved around the plants, leaving the covering between them. Raspberries, grape vines, &c., that have been laid down, may now be uncovered and tied up to stakes or trellises, and all uew plantations of these and other fruits may now be made. Vegetable Garden. Asparagus, rhubarb, spinach, &c., should be uncovered, and the beds hoed or dug lightly. Hardier sorts of vegetable seeds and plants, such as beets, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, lettuce, onions, parsley, parsnip, peas, potatoes, radishes, spinach, turnip, &c., should all be sown or planted by the middle of the month if the soil is dry and warm, and in all cases, where practicable, before the end of the month. It is essential, in sowing seeds now, that they be well firmed in the soil. Any who expect to get early cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, or radishes, while planting or sowing is delayed until the time of sowing tomato and egg plant in May, are sure to be disappointed of a full crop. MAY. Flower Garden and Greenhmtse. Window and gree house plants should be in their finest bloom. Firing may be entirely dispensed with, though care must still be exercised in ventilating. Every precaution must be used to keep the air moist. &quot;Moss culture &quot; may be tried, the common sphagnum or moss of the swamps, mixed with one-twentieth of its bulk of bone-dust, being laid as a mulch on the top of the earth of the flower-pots ; its effect is to shield the pots from the sun, and at the same time stimulate the roots to come to the surface. By the end of the month all of the plants that are wanted for the summer decoration of the flower border may be planted out, first loosening a little the ball of earth at the roots. If the weather is dry, water freely after planting. When the greenhouse is not to be used during the summer months, camellias, azaleas, and plants of that character should be set out of doors under partial shade ; but most of the other plants usually grown in the conservatory or window garden in winter may be set in the open border. Flower beds should lie kept well hoed and raked, to prevent the growth of weeds next month. Lawns should be mown, and the edgings trimmed. Pelargoniums, pinks, monthly roses, and all the half hardy-kinds of flowering plants should be planted early; but coleus, heliotrope, and the more tender plants should be delayed until the end of the month. Annuals that have been sown in the greenhouse or hotbed may be planted out, and saeds of such sorts as mignonette, sweet alyssum, phlox Drumniondii, portu- laca, &c., mp.y be sow.) in the beds or borders.