28 MORE POT-POURRI 



flower at the top, are very pretty in a greenhouse or 

 window. Solanum jasminoides can be treated in .exactly 

 the same way, though it will live out through ordinary 

 winters, especially if sheltered by some other growth. 



Last spring my jealousy was excited by seeing 

 Camellias flowering very well out of doors. The prin- 

 ciple on which they were managed was to plant them in 

 a thick shrubbery with overhanging branches of Rhodo- 

 dendron or some other evergreen shrub. The ground 

 was prepared with a good deal of peat. In consequence 

 of the successful healthy look of these Camellias I have 

 myself planted out two large old trees. The great 

 secret of success is that they should face due north, and 

 be well watered in dry weather. If Dielytra spectabilis 

 is planted in the same way, facing north and under the 

 protection of some shrub, it flowers well out of doors. It 

 always gets injured by spring winds and frosts in the 

 open borders here. 



September IQth. All the Funkias are worth growing, 

 but all might be left out of a small garden except Funkia 

 sieboldi. That, anyhow, must be grown out of doors, as 

 it is a beautiful plant, gives no trouble, flowers every 

 year, and lasts very well in water. If kept in a pot it 

 flowers at the same time as out of doors, but under glass 

 the flowers are distinctly finer. It is not very often seen, 

 but is quite the handsomest, I think, of the Funkias. 



A friend asks me to recommend a really good book on 

 the kitchen garden, including the proper treatment of 

 fruit-trees. I know no one book complete ; the information 

 on vegetables and fruit must be gleaned apart. For detailed 

 directions on the culture of vegetables none comes near 

 the translation of Vilmorin's, mentioned before. But for 

 ordinary purposes and as a cheap book Button's ' The 

 Culture of Vegetables and Flowers ' (Simpkin, Marshall, 

 Hamilton, Kent & Co.) is excellent. ' Profitable Fruit- 



