The Comic Almanack, Volume 1 / An Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, Containing Merry Tales, Humerous Poetry, Quips, and Oddities

by William Makepeace Thackeray; Gilbert Abbott À Beckett; Henry Mayhew; Horace Mayhew; Albert Smith

GARDENING DIRECTIONS FOR AUGUST.

Blow off dust from plants in flower—using the mouth for the more delicate sorts, and taking the bellows for those that are of stronger constitution. Pull back ivy from adjacent gardens, and train up against your own wall, with pieces of old waistcoating.

For borderings, you may now resort freely to the planting of oyster-shells, which you can procure in large quantities from the boys, after the grottos are demolished. It is not advisable to have recourse to box, though, if you have planted it very close in the previous season, you may fill up the spaces that you will now find, with the oyster-shells. They are not so liable to be attacked by the grubs, and the cats do not displace them so readily by running over them.