_Dahlias_ will require special attention to secure them from splitting
down, and breaking; let every part be well supported by ties. The cool
nights and warm days of approaching fall will give them their most
vigorous growth.
SAVING SEED.—Beet, spinage, peas, celery, salsify, lettuce seeds will
now be ripe and should be gathered. Even if not quite ripe, they may
be plucked, as experiments seem to show that seeds are more injured by
over-ripeness than under-ripening. Seal up your peas in bottles and
put wax about the cork, according to Dr. Plummer’s directions, and the
larvæ of the pea-bug will die for want of air. Seeds are ripened best
in their own pods or receptacles; and where they ripen nearly at the
same time, and do not easily shake out, we hang the whole plant in an
airy shed, barn, etc., until winter; and then, for convenience, thresh
out and pack up.
As fast as your perennial plants have shed their flowers, let the seed
plants be destroyed, unless you wish to save seed, as the ripening of
seed exhausts the root.
Young peach-trees should have the side shoots cleared away and one
strong centre stem secured for budding in the fall.
Onions may now be gathered. Let them lie a day or two on the bed or in
the alley, and then be transferred to a cool and airy place. The sets
for top onions may be tied in bundles and hung up till spring.
Where peas and bush beans have been cleared away, turnips may be sowed
for a fall and winter crop.
Spinage seed should be got ready to be sown in September, if you wish
a good supply of this choicest of all spring greens.
Celery plants will begin to grow strongly in the trenches; water with
liquid manure; if troubled with insects, dust with quick lime and
water with salt water. Above all things be careful in drawing in the
earth to keep it out from the heart of the plant, and let it be done
in dry weather.