1 90 OCTOBER 



are also taboo for similar considerations. From a 

 different cause, but an equally potent one, such 

 good winter blooms as sparmannia, cytisus, and 

 other amenable plants are impossible ; they flower 

 at the right time, indeed, but their habit is large, 

 or, at any rate, it tends rapidly to become so, and 

 they take up the room of several primulas or 

 geraniums. All these things, or nearly all, must 

 depart in favour of soft stuff and bulbs, which will 

 keep the house gay from October to March. There 

 is, in fact, to be nothing on the shelves or the stages 

 except plants that will flower in winter, and a very 

 important consideration plants that can be for 

 the most part done away with directly their bloom 

 is over. This is the case with primulas and 

 cinerarias, which may be thrown to the rubbish 

 heap when their flowers are cut ; chrysanthemums 

 can be turned into frames, as may also all the hardy 

 bulbs when their season is over, with cyclamens, 

 callas, and half a dozen other things. With proper 

 protection they will come to no harm. Freesias 

 can be thrust under the stages ; pelargoniums into 

 a warm attic ; most things, in short, can be got 

 rid of for a time, except in an exceptionally rigorous 

 winter, to leave the greenhouse free for flowering 

 plants. 



The conscientious reader who skims over this 

 chapter with an inclination to act upon its advice 

 will by this time feel very sad for his summer 

 display under glass. But I do not for a moment 

 intend to deny him the pleasure of greenhouse 

 flowers in the summer months, though he may 

 possibly be obliged to rearrange his stock of these 



