FEBRUARY 295 



the greenhouse is still gay with things of far greater 

 beauty than could by dint of any effort be found 

 outside it. Nearly all the flowers that made Jan- 

 uary bright are still growing there, and it is only 

 that the natural impatience of the human finds it 

 irksome to bestow labour on the old, well-known 

 plants. Perhaps it is because the time of its 

 greatest usefulness is drawing to an end, and when 

 March comes in we shall depend for but few of our 

 joys on its sheltering care. Even now seed-pans 

 are jostling the growing pots, and the signs of the 

 time of propagation which is beginning for the en- 

 suing summer without, and for the following winter 

 within doors, are everywhere visible to the eye. 

 For February is the natural end of the year, being 

 the time of the completion of winter's promise as 

 well as that of the reiteration of summer's. Old 

 things pass away, and all things become new. 



But although the time is approaching when the 

 greenhouse will hardly be a recognised factor in the 

 providing of the bulk of our flowers, yet there are 

 always wanted a certain number of pot plants for 

 the house, or to furnish a cold greenhouse if one 

 there is. The aim of the amateur, as I have con- 

 stantly iterated, is or should be to provide for the 

 summer season with things which do not take up 

 much room in winter on the stages and shelves. 

 From March to June the main supply for this 

 purpose may be the show pelargonium ; and from 

 June to October begonias, achimenes, and gloxinias, 

 which have been laid on their sides on the green- 

 house floor for several months, together with various 

 annuals suited to pot culture, which may now 



