160 JOTTINGS OF A GENTLEMAN GARDENER 



" Use no other tool." A sharp pair of ordinary scissors 

 are very good, but if these are not available, then a sharp 

 knife may be used. A blunt knife is almost as bad as 

 " plucking " the flowers, the damage caused being fre- 

 quently no less. The knife or scissors should be kept 

 cleaned, and should be frequently sharpened with one 

 of the patent kinds of " stone " offered by ironmongers. 



The Art of Cutting Flowers : It makes no difference to 

 the plant when its flowers are cut, but it makes a very 

 great difference to the lives of the flowers themselves. 

 Opinions differ as to what is the best time to cut them, 

 and experiments are difficult to carry out, for the results 

 are affected by many small points, such for instance as 

 the temperature of the room and the position of vases of 

 flowers. But at any rate never cut flowers during hot 

 sunshine. The best times for doing the work are in the 

 early morning or in the evening. Trials point to the 

 advantage arising from early morning gathering, but if 

 the plants are well watered in the early morning, and the 

 blooms cut in the evening of the same day, very little 

 difference in their lasting period is noticeable. 



The cutting of flowers is an art in itself, and like most 

 arts it takes some trouble and study to learn. By indis- 

 criminate cutting it is possible to ruin the whole of a 

 beautiful coloured picture, but with care all the flowers 

 wanted can usually be got without spoiling the beauty of 

 a border. 



To do this is easier than it sounds. Let the reader 

 go out into the garden with me, and we will have a look 

 at the border and see how it can be done. We look at 

 plants such as Erigerons, Chrysanthemum maximum, and 

 many others, and we may find that these are at present 

 covered with bloom. The colour effect of the whole 

 border is good. 



The art of flower cutting consists in taking a few flowers 

 only from each clump. In a big border there will be 

 five or six clumps of each plant, and instead of spoiling one 

 clump by removing all its flowers, we spoil none by taking 



