88 MORE POT-POURRI 



The stalks or canes of Michaelmas Daisies should be 

 cut down carefully, trimmed, and dried, as they make 

 excellent sticks for plants in pots or even out of doors, 

 and are well worth saving. 



November 3rd. A lady writes strongly recommending 

 a Tea Rose called ' Ma Capucine.' ' Such lovely red-scar- 

 let buds from June to December,' she says. This I have 

 now ordered. I have moved my white ' Lamarque Rose,' 

 but I cannot get it to do well here. The Dean of Roch- 

 ester wrote me a most kind letter reproaching me for 

 saying I could not grow Roses, and implying that the 

 fault is mine. This I know to be true, but the fact is I 

 am so fond of variety in flowers, as in all else, that I 

 grudge too much room in the garden being given to 

 Roses ; and the attention and hand-picking they require 

 in the spring, when I am very busy with other things, 

 cause them to be neglected. 



Another correspondent from the north of London 

 wrote that I exaggerated the difficulty of growing Roses 

 near London. He says he has had good success with 

 his. But then he lives on heavy soil, and that makes an 

 extraordinary difference in their power of resisting their 

 enemies smoke, blight, etc. 



This year a Crimson Rambler that failed near a wall 

 (I believe they never do well on walls) has made pro- 

 digious growth out in the open. I have cut out the old 

 wood, spread out the long shoots, and tied them down to 

 canes on either side, so as to increase the flowering all 

 along the branches. Underneath is a large bed of ' Mrs. 

 Simpkin' Pinks, and I think the two together will be 

 pretty. 



November 7th. I am always being asked about green- 

 house plants, and how to get variety both for picking 

 and for ornamenting a small greenhouse next a room. 

 It has been rather the fashion of late to say : ' Oh ! I 



