WINTKR. 127 



long you must tie it loosely to this stick, and continue 

 tying it as it grows till it gets to the top, when you may 

 give it a taller stick, if you wish a high plant. Whenever 

 side branches spring out from the stem of the tree, ni[) 

 them off at the second joint, thus leaving the stem with 

 some leaves upon it to assist its growth ; " it should 

 look," Mr Beaton says, " as feathery as the logs of a ban- 

 tam fowl." About midsummer shift the plants into .Vincli 

 pots, and, if they have done well, they may need another 

 shift at the end of July ; after that it is recommended to 

 let them alone. During all this time no flowers are to be 

 allowed to form ; nip them off as fast as they appear, and 

 allow none to blow till the middle of October, when they 

 will flower all winter. A later sowing may be made for 

 spring flowering, say in June, and the tying-up and nip- 

 ping-off of these will be winter work ; for all the forego- 

 ing directions are certaiidy to be followed in summer, 

 and might have been alluded to in writing of that season. 

 Chrysanthemums are also winter favourites. They too 

 need summer's forethought and culture, but they grow and 

 flower in winter, and there is something very refreshing in 

 the aromatic smell of these flowers in a season when sweet 

 scents are only thoughts of the past. The various perfumes 

 of flowers are as characteristic as their colours, — some are 

 sweet and faint, suggestive of calm summer evenings ; 

 others rich and luscious, recalling summer's sunlight ; 

 others are fresh and invigorating, like morning air ; while 

 others again, like the chrysanthemum, seem to have some- 

 thing hardy and bracing in their fragrance, as if whiter 



