234 JOTTINGS OF A GENTLEMAN GARDENER 



All large tools should be hung on nails in the wall of the 

 potting shed so that they can be easily reached. 



Small tools can be kept in a drawer, provided they are 

 not piled on top of each other. These small tools include 

 secateurs, garden knives, trowels, and small hand-forks. 

 There should also be in the drawer a hammer or two, and 

 a garden mallet ; spare " roses " can also be kept there if 

 they cannot be screwed on to the sides of the watering cans. 



The lawn inower is a garden appliance of which great 

 care should be taken. After use it should be well cleaned, 

 and if this cannot be done in any other way it should be done 

 by pouring water over the parts from the spout of a watering 

 can. The parts should then be well dried, the machine 

 oiled, and put away. When finally put aside for the 

 winter, the blades and working parts should be generously 

 smeared with oil. 



Pots and seed pans should be well scrubbed inside and 

 out during the winter days, when nothing much is on the 

 go in the open garden. They should then be arranged in 

 single rows to dry, after which they can be stacked up. 

 Seed boxes should be well scraped inside, and turned over 

 that their bases may be also scraped. They should have 

 a coat of paint, each year if possible, on the outside ; paint 

 inside is not generally advisable. 



Labels for the open ground or for seed boxes and pans or 

 pots can be cut out of the thin wood of old boxes, but unless 

 there is nothing else to do, it is hardly worth while, for 

 they can be obtained so cheaply. Labels want renewing 

 at least every two years, once in twelve months is better. 

 They should be " painted," that is, have a little white paint 

 rubbed on with a bit of rag, and written on while still wet. 

 Very little paint is needed. Any excess makes writing 

 difficult. 



Ordinary portable wooden frames should not be allowed 

 to stand in the open when not in use, but taken to pieces 

 and stored in a shed. Frames should be painted every 

 two or three years with three coats of paint. The lights 

 of frames should be overhauled once a year, any damaged 



