150 AUGUST 



purpose the providing of flowers at a season when 

 they are not to be had out of doors. If one can 

 do everything hardy and tender plants and green- 

 house plants proper well and good. But if the 

 greenhouse room is limited let me beg amateurs 

 to throw away all the tender garden stuff which 

 litters its shelves. The keeping of cuttings for 

 summer bedding is a costly and ugly practice which, 

 in such circumstances, should be put a stop to at 

 once. Begonias for bedding can be preserved 

 under the stages ; dahlias will live through the 

 winter in a warm cellar, cannas and gladioli may be 

 hidden away in odd holes and corners. But pelar- 

 goniums and heliotropes, and a dozen other subjects 

 which gardeners love to keep throughout the winter, 

 should be got rid of without delay unless there 

 is room for them and for the winter-blooming 

 flowers too, which is seldom the case in the 

 amateur's greenhouse. Better a little bareness in 

 August, when, at least, the borders still supply 

 large quantities of flowers for cutting, than a dearth 

 of bloom in December, when it is more valuable 

 than at any other time. 



In looking forward to winter's needs the first 

 bulbs which demand potting are the freesias. If 

 these have been properly attended to since their 

 last blooming, the old bulbs will be as good as any 

 new ones could be. We plant the first during the 

 last week of July, and those for a succession at this 

 time ; about a dozen will go into a six-inch pot, and 

 it is better not to plunge them, as is generally 

 advisable with bulbs, for the leaf growth is so 

 tender that it will hardly bear freeing from the 



