NOVEMBER 97 



This little tree is raised on a Japanese stand. Beside it 

 is a pot containing a small orchid, Odontoglossum pic- 

 turatum, one mass of flowers like yellow Violets. 

 Various Cypripediums are in front in a glass, and 

 Imantophyllnms that have stood out all the summer 

 and thrown up a few late autumn flowers ; they are 

 always most effective picked. There are also pieces cut 

 from a bright yellow Coronilla flowering out of doors 

 against a greenhouse wall, a bunch of white Paris 

 Daisies that were left out to be killed by the frost and 

 are still flourishing, and a bunch of the black berries of 

 the common Privet, which contrast well with a few bright 

 orange Gazanias, also left out to perish early in the year 

 from cold and dryness, but of which we always take 

 cuttings, as it has this great merit of late flowering out 

 of doors. Finally, there is a precious bunch of Neapoli- 

 tan Violets. For the first hour or two after they are 

 picked I always put a small bell-glass over them, as the 

 warm moisture from condensation under the glass very 

 much increases their sweetness. 



I do not find it recommended in any of the modern 

 gardening books that I have, but I am sure, if you want 

 your Lilacs to flower well and never assume that weedy, 

 choked appearance that they generally have in gardens, 

 it is most important to remove, every winter, the 

 numerous suckers that surround Lilac bushes. When 

 this is done, it is as well to introduce a little manure 

 round the roots. 



RECEIPTS 



An excellent winter salad is made by mashing pota- 

 toes as if for a purte, and beating them up with a little 

 lukewarm weak stock or warm water instead of milk, 

 and no butter. Then dress them with a little chopped 

 chive, oil and vinegar, pepper and salt. This is good 



