Gardening for Amateurs 



127 



some of the best crystal dishes all 

 collected in a heterogeneous con- 

 glomeration that must be amusing 

 to anyone who does not know 

 what the enthusiasm of winning a 

 red ticket is, or the joy of defeat- 

 ing one's neighbour. Flowers need 

 to be protected, for rain lodges 

 among the petals, and soon spoils 

 their beauty ; near the city the 

 smoke-laden atmosphere is dele- 

 terious to their fine colours, and 

 they must expand under some sort 

 of cover. A square box of suit- 

 able size has the bottom knocked 

 out of it, and only the four sides 

 left ; a stake of the proper length 

 is nailed to this, and the whole 

 firmly placed over the flower ; a 

 square of glass over the top com- 

 pletes the apparatus. Asters, 

 Marigolds, Stocks, and many 

 others are all amenable to that 

 treatment, but the tall spikes of 

 Gladioli must have a long box 

 with the glass in front. A glass 

 jelly jar tied to a stake serves as 

 an excellent means of protecting 

 Carnations, Roses, and such like 

 flowers ; two wooden pegs, with 

 a saw notch in each, can be em- 

 ployed to hold up a piece of glass 

 over flowers, but wire clips are to 

 be had for a similar purpose. The 

 ingenuity and resources of the 

 amateur are of such magnitude 

 that it is futile to enter into 

 detail ; the genius for protecting 

 flowers is an instinct or second 

 nature. 



The ordinary gardener finds it 

 necessary to protect some of his 

 borders, more especially towards 

 the end of autumn ; Chrysanthe- 

 mums in the open, for example, 

 demand a covering of some sort 

 in order that we may get the full 

 benefit of their floriferous habits. 

 Tin- iiMial method is to erect four 

 posts at suitable distances, the 

 two at the back being slightly 

 higher than those at the front ; 

 the Bash of a garden frame is then 



Many plant stems may 

 be secured to one 

 strong stake. 



Carnation coil stakes 

 made by rolling 

 stiff wire round 

 a broom handle. 



How not to stake seedlings. 



Staking seedlings so 

 that they are pro- 

 tected from wind. 



The best kind of stake (or a 

 plant of bushy, slender 

 growth. 



Stakes and wire as 

 arranged to sup- 

 port vigorous bushy 

 plants. 



