SEPTEMBER 29 



glass the flowers are distinctly finer. It is not very 

 often seen, but is quite the handsomest, I think, of the 

 Funkias. 



A friend asks me to recommend a really good book on 

 the kitchen garden, including the proper treatment of 

 fruit trees. I know no one book complete; the informa- 

 tion on vegetables and fruit must be gleaned apart. For 

 detailed directions on the culture of vegetables, none 

 comes near the translation of Vilmorin's, mentioned 

 before. But for ordinary purposes and as a cheap 

 book, Button's ' The Culture of Vegetables and Flowers' 

 (Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co.) is excellent. 

 'Profitable Fruit-growing,' by John Wright, F.R.H.S. 

 (171 Fleet street, London), is clear, comprehensive, and 

 concise, giving excellent information on pruning and 

 general cultivation of all outdoor fruit trees, and cur- 

 rants, gooseberries, and raspberries. It makes no allu- 

 sion to orchard-houses, nor to vines under glass or out 

 of doors. 



Samphire is a herb I have never yet tried to grow. I 

 believe it is only to be had wild in its integrity from 

 Norfolk, where they still make quite an industry of 

 gathering and pickling it. The fresh Samphire is only 

 to be found in August and September. 



A critic in 'The Guardian' on l Pot-Pourri' says it is 

 a mistake to prune Chymonanthus fragrans after flower- 

 ing in the winter, as I suggested ; and adds, ' it should 

 be done late in the summer by shortening back the 

 year's growths to a quarter of their own length or less, 

 to throw the vigour of the shrub into the short flower- 

 ing spur rather than let it run into long, leafy and 

 flower-less branches.' I think this quite true, but I call 

 that cutting back. What I mean by 'pruning' is taking 

 out real branches, and I think that is desirable here in 

 this light soil with nearly all the flowering shrubs 



