n6 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



JUNE 



Hands and fingers after weeding Shrub-pruning Boxes for birds 

 Bobins in greenhouse ' Burning Bush ' Two Polygonums 

 Strawberries Geraniums and cuttings Cactuses Freezia bulbs 

 Oloriosa superba Luncheon dishes Cucumbers. 



June 2nd. It must be admitted that one of the great 

 drawbacks to gardening and weeding is the state into 

 which the hands and fingers get. Unfortunately, one's 

 hands belong not only to oneself, but to the family, who do 

 not scruple to tell the gardening amateur that her appear- 

 ance is ' revolting.' Constant washing and always keeping 

 them smooth and soft by a never-failing use of vaseline 

 or, still better, a mixture of glycerine and starch, kept ready 

 on the washstand to use after washing and before drying 

 the hands are the best remedies I know. Old dog-skin 

 or old kid gloves are better for weeding than the so-called 

 gardening gloves ; and for many purposes the wash- 

 leather housemaid's glove, sold at any village shop, is 

 invaluable. Good gardeners tell you never to cut flowers 

 except with a sharp knife. This is good advice for shrubs 

 or pot-plants, the clean cut being better for the plants ; 

 but I advise that the knife should be on a steel chain a 

 foot or so long, with a good pair of garden hook- shaped 

 scissors at the other end for the cutting of annuals or 

 lately planted plants with a knife, in light soil, is very 

 much to be avoided. The smallest pull loosens the roots, 

 and immediate death, in hot weather, is the result. Another 

 advantage of knife and scissors together on the chain is 



