DECEMBER 129 



into sheltered places under shrubs and trees, or against 

 walls, there has been, up to now, no frost to hurt them 

 in such situations. Some that I moved twice this 

 autumn are not feeling it at all. 



If Camellias are grown in pots, they make far more 

 buds than they can possibly carry, and severe disbud- 

 ding is most useful. 



Outdoor Heaths seem to' do better for cutting back 

 after flowering. 



Just lately I have received from the south of France 

 a box of dried figs, not pressed at all, but just dried in 

 the sun, as the peasants eat them. They are delicious, I 

 think ; far better than the usual dried figs we get in 

 England, the inside seeds of which, as a rule, are much 

 too hard. 



December llth. The Hornbeam one of the old 

 indigenous trees of England, and among the very best 

 for firewood is, judging from what I notice, very little 

 planted now and rarely named in catalogues. And yet 

 for many purposes it is useful and beautiful. It stands 

 the knife to any extent-, and makes most satisfactory 



In my last book I spoke of pergolas those covered 

 walks made with poles, or columns of bricks or stone, 

 and overgrown with creepers of all kinds. Now I 

 would speak of the 'charmilles' walks either of turf or 

 gravel, covered over with arches of growing trees, with 

 no supports or wires or wood, merely the interlacing of 

 the boughs till they grow thick overhead with continual 

 pruning. There is a little short walk of this kind at 

 Hampton Court I forget how it is made (I mean, with 

 what trees it is planted) and in the Boboli Gardens at 

 Florence there are endless varieties, as everyone knows, 

 of these covered walks. They would be very beautiful 

 on the north or east side of many a sunny lawn ; and if 



