THE GARDEN AND THE SEASONS 243 



third or fourth week, it may be that some things which have 

 not been done at the proper times, may be best not done at 

 all." 



" THE SUMMER. 



" Doubtless there are many readers who have been 

 looking forward to the summer, and now it is here perhaps 

 some few notes on how it may be used will be of interest. 

 It has been said by many people that the entrance into July 

 completes most of the gardener's work, but it is not an 

 uncommon thing for people to make statements on subjects 

 they do not know much about. There is still plenty of 

 practical work for the gardener in the way of sowing seeds 

 of perennials, keeping the plants tied up, and the borders 

 hoed, mulched, and watered ; but the amateur will find 

 there is much less strenuous work to occupy him in these 

 lovely summer evenings. 



" The amateur will now have time for observation in 

 his and in other people's gardens. If he uses his eyes, and 

 observes accurately and closely, he will find there is much 

 to be learnt. Even the weeds in our rubbish corner, and 

 those by the roadsides should not be scorned, from some 

 of them many interesting points can be deduced. He 

 should look at the Groundsel and compare it with the 

 Jacobea. He will see several points of similarity, of 

 habit, and that both plants are not afraid of dry weather. 

 If he is a Yorkshire dalesman let him compare the wild 

 globe flower with the garden one, and he will see that they 

 are similar. In this case the garden variety is, I believe, 

 a ' highly bred ' form of the other. And so he could go on 

 observing, and comparing wild flowers with the garden 

 forms. Such comparisons he will no doubt find interesting. 



" We have all longed for our favourite flowers and plants 

 to come into bloom, and at the time of writing many of them 

 are looking very well. In the summer it is not only worth 

 while, but, in many cases, necessary, to give a little study 

 to the various plants. Those who describe plants for the 

 gardening Press know this well enough, but the amateur 



