I 4 MARCH 



also a hedge of single and semi-double dahlias in 

 the kitchen garden far exceeding them in strength 

 and floriferous value, although the blossoms are not 

 of correct form or of orthodox habit. Still they are 

 exactly what are wanted for cutting, and the supply 

 is unfailing until winter frosts lay them low. 



Most of the half-hardy annuals are sown either 

 now or in April in pans or boxes in the greenhouse, 

 or else in frames outside. Nearly all of them are 

 the better for being raised from the first without 

 fire heat, and little beds in the open are quite 

 practicable for many things in sheltered gardens, 

 provided that they have the protection of glass. 

 An excellent plan for those who cannot spare cold 

 frames for this purpose is to buy a few sheets of 

 twenty-one-ounce glass, and to extemporise little 

 frames to carry the sheets. One or two laths cut 

 into pieces an inch or so smaller in each direction 

 than the glass, nailed together and laid on the 

 ground, and covered with a sheet of the glass, will 

 make an admirable shelter for a little patch of some 

 half-hardy annual. As the seedlings grow the laths 

 may be raised on bricks, and by this means the 

 young plants will be safe until the danger of frost 

 is over. They must be thinned as soon as they 

 require it, and this is the most important part of 

 the whole system of their culture. 



March 25. When Jim first broke away from his 

 busy London life, having made up his mind that the 

 solitude of the country was more conducive to the 

 study of the philosophies than was the quicker, 

 strenuous existence he had led since leaving 

 the old home, he asked me to share his cottage 



