THE VALUE OF WHITE FLOWERS 363 



having been given enough rope, literally hanged 

 themselves. In other gardens green stakes were set 

 at intervals (I noticed it in the case of gladioli and 

 carnations especially) and strings carried from one 

 stake to the other, leaving each plant hi the centre of 

 a twine square, like chessmen imprisoned on the board. 

 But the most terrible example of all was where either 

 the owner or the gardener, for they were not one and 

 the same, had purchased a quantity of half-inch 

 pine strips at a lumber yard and proceeded to 

 scatter them about his beds at random, regardless of 

 height or suitability, very much as if some neighbour- 

 ing Fourth of July celebration had showered the place 

 with rocket sticks. 



If your young German has time in the intervals 

 of tree- planting and trellis- making, get him to trim 

 some of the cedars of a diameter of two or three inches 

 and stack them away for Dahlia poles. Next season 

 you will become a victim of these gorgeous velvet 

 flowers, I foresee, especially as I have fully a barrel 

 of the "potatoes" of some very handsome varieties 

 to bestow upon you. Make the most of Meyer, for 

 he will probably grow melancholy as soon as cool 

 weather sets in and he thinks of winter evenings and 

 a sweetheart he has left in the fatherland ! 



