294 FEBRUARY 



Baroness Rothschild and her sports, for instance, 

 yield comparatively little thin growth, yet they 

 need the knife as much as many others, because 

 they grow so much wood at the heart. 



A good hedge of sweet peas has just been drilled, 

 to come on in succession to those sown in Novem- 

 ber. They were of mixed sorts, while these are 

 all of mauve, and lilac, and purple shades, each in 

 its own patch, with some good white kinds inter- 

 spersed. The next sowing will be in April, when 

 a hedge of pinks and reds will be grown for late 

 cutting, as well as another of mixed varieties. 



I should like to re-plant the carnations which 

 were not sufficiently well rooted to be taken last 

 autumn from their parent stems, but the weather is 

 threatening, and winter seems likely to come back 

 again ; so these must wait till we are more assured 

 of fair skies and genial winds, for the end of the 

 month will not be too late for this purpose. And 

 in the meantime I fear we shall have to resign the 



o 



hope of spring's coming, whose promise has been 

 in the air for a fortnight or more, and to get back 

 to greenhouse work, for the thermometer has fallen 

 twenty degrees since yesterday, and there is every 

 reason to fear a gale of snow and raging wind. 



" Blow, blow, thou winter wind, 

 Thou art not so unkind 

 As man's ingratitude," 



for at the first taste of spring the gardener hastens 

 to leave the sheltering greenhouse which has pro- 

 vided blossoms in abundance for several months, 

 and to seek his treasure in the open, grudging 

 every hour that has to be spent under a roof. Yet 



