BUDS, BLOOM, AND EARLY BIRD 



I have done this at Burlington House, and that I have Feb. 

 been ejected with ignominy). And you tremble lest ^"H 

 your wife should come in before you have sneaked into 

 the rear with the spoil, and surreptitiously burnt it. But 

 look ahead a few weeks (you cannot get your wife to do 

 this, because it is against her principles, and so she had 

 better know nothing about it beforehand), and see the 

 magnificent new canes that almost leap out of the gnarled 

 stumps, as gauze-clad figures leap out of tree trunks and 

 huge shells in the pantomimes. A couple of months, and 

 you have new yards of canes, new breadths of foliage. 

 The golden days of late summer partially brown the 

 shoots, and so you get the condition of maturity which 

 the gardener speaks of as "ripe wood." Abundance of 

 fine flowers follow in the ensuing spring. 



Zonal and Ivy-Leaved Geraniums. — Although the Zonal 

 Geranium is supposed to have declined as a garden plant 

 (as a matter of fact, it has not done anything of the kind), 

 it is reputed to have increased in favour as a winter 

 flower for the greenhouse. I believe this, although I do 

 not believe the other. A burst of Geraniums is apt to 

 raise such a colour racket in the summer sunshine as to 

 annoy you like a red brick house. But it is another 

 matter on a grey winter day, with the air full of fog. 

 Then one wants to be cheered first of all ; that is the 

 primary consideration. Few winter-blooming plants are 

 more invigorating than the Zonal Geranium. It has the 

 same inspiriting effect on an amateur gardener as a foot- 

 ball cup-tie has on a Sheffield cutler. But there is less 

 noise about it ! If cuttings of Zonals are put in now the 

 plants resulting therefrom will bloom next autumn and 

 winter. They may try to flower before, but the attempt 

 should be suppressed by picking out the young trusses, 

 A temperature of 50° to 55° is desirable. 

 77 



