POT-PLANTS. 17 



We have not been fortunate this winter with 

 the pot-plants which we require for the house. 

 The Primulas have been singularly shabby. We 

 had got some white sand from an excavation in 

 the road near us, and it seems to have checked the 

 growth of several of our plants. The Roman 

 Hyacinths, too, have done less well than usual 

 with us. There was a gummy look about many 

 of the bulbs, which made us fear at the time that 

 they were not properly ripened, and the result has 

 proved that we were right. For dinner-table 

 decoration can anything be prettier at this season 

 than small Orange-trees Japanese Oranges, I 

 think they are laden with their wealth of green 

 and golden fruit ? I have only just taken to them, 

 and certainly I have seen nothing of the kind I 

 like so well, 



