OCTOBER 



Oct. r I ^ H E work of October is very important. 

 / i It is now that provision is made for 

 winter wants or rather, it is now that it is seen 

 what provision has been made, for in some cases 

 nearly a whole year's forethought is required to 

 secure a pot of bloom. Many chrysanthemums, for 

 instance, have been growing since last Christmas, 

 and there are very few winter subjects that do not 

 require six months' preliminary treatment before 

 they will reward the grower with their flowers. 



My greenhouse measures fifteen feet by ten not 

 an extravagant size. It has a stage down each side 

 and at one end ; a couple of shelves rather high up, 

 also at the end ; a movable shelf, that in times of 

 stress swings high in the roof above my head ; and 

 a couple of benches, which also when the need is 

 dire run down the centre, standing on the gravel 

 which forms the floor. It is heated with an Ivanhoe 

 stove, and a four-inch flow and return pipe round 

 two sides and an end. The stage on one side is 

 topped with a galvanised tray its whole length and 

 width, and about six inches deep. This tray is 

 filled with peat from a neighbouring fir wood, in 

 which we can plunge cyclamens and other things 



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