XII MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 323 
formed and maintained round the base of the plant 
that liquid may be put down by the pailful and sink 
in, instead of runnmg away. 
Like other Noisettes it is an early bloomer. And, - 
on walls or other places where it is likely to stand 
the winter, the first crop of flowers (and in such hot, 
dry positions there is seldom much of a second one) 
are over considerably before the time of shows. For 
exhibition purposes, therefore, the problem is how’ 
to preserve standards in the open from frost in 
winter, and from breaking too soon in the spring, 
for they must not be hard pruned. I have for some 
years been successful in this, and have had plenty of 
these glorious yellow blooms to shine like lamps in 
my show-stands among the reds and pinks and 
whites. A row of half-standards is planted, some 
two or three yards from plant to plant, leaning in 
the row at a sharp angle, so that the head of the 
plant is not much more than a foot from the 
eround. For winter protection the stem by the 
head is bent and pegged down to the ground as 
far as it will go without straining the roots, and 
the long shoots are similarly laid down. Any long 
dry rubbish is now laid thickly over the whole row 
(nothing green or damp that will ferment and rot 
should be allowed), forming a long mound, and 
finally the whole is covered thickly, deeply—the 
thicker the better—with earth, and smoothed and 
made as air and water-tight as possible with a spade. 
In short, they are ‘‘ clamped”’ just like mangolds in 
a field. It will be well to remove the very sappiest 
and greenest of the shoots before doing all this, as 
they would not be of much use if preserved, and 
will probably rot when buried. This treatment 
¥ 2 
