182 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



without some of them. Their charm is principally in 

 their foliage and scent, as the flowers are insignificant. 

 They are easily increased by cuttings in spring under a 

 bell-glass. The growing of Cape plants is always 

 interesting. Small Cape Aloes have charming pink 

 flowers in spring, which last long in water, not unlike the 

 Lachenalias (see catalogues), all of which are worth 

 growing. 



Leonotis leonurus has not flowered out of doors with 

 me this year at all, either in large pots or planted out in 

 a bed. The plants were covered with buds, and so we 

 lifted them at the end of September, and put them into 

 the heat, where they have flowered well. This would be 

 worth while for anyone with plenty of room, as it is such 

 a handsome unusual flower when picked. Like the 

 Daturas, they may be extra late from the excessive 

 dryness of May and June, and the wet afterwards. It is 

 a Cape plant ; there it forms large bushes covered with 

 bloom. Another African greenhouse plant well worth 

 growing is called Sparmannia africana. The covering 

 of the bud is white, and shows, when the flower opens, 

 between the four petals, forming an unusually pretty 

 star-shaped flower with a brush of yellow stamens 

 tipped with red. 



We have a good many fine Sweet Chestnut trees, 

 and they ripen more or less well every year. We cook 

 them in a great many ways : boil them and shell them, 

 and warm them up in butter or with a little stock, as a 

 vegetable. They are very good made into a pure"e with 

 butter and cream, to eat with cutlets; or boiled and 

 rubbed through a wire sieve, to serve round whipped 

 cream well flavoured with sugar and vanilla. Of course 

 the cheap Chestnuts sold in London can all be cooked in 

 the same way, but only the best Italian Chestnuts are 

 good for roasting. 



