58 MORE POT-POURRI 



up now and stored in dry sand under cover, like Carrots. 

 They grow old and spotty, if left in the ground in the 

 usual English way. 



Before cutting down our Asparagus we collect the 

 pretty red seeds, sow them at once very thickly in ordi- 

 nary or fancy china pots, and keep some for later sowing. 

 The seedlings come in well as an ornament in the green- 

 house at Christmas, look green and fresh and refined, and 

 most people do not know what they are. They have the 

 great merit of costing nothing and of being very easy to 

 grow for anyone who has a warm greenhouse. 



October 28th. We are benefiting now by the extra- 

 ordinarily dry autumn and no early frost. The number 

 of flowers in the garden is quite surprising. I picked 

 this morning a large bunch of Nemesia. The Lavenders 

 are flowering a second time, and there are plenty of Tea- 

 roses. 



The following instructions for growing the Tropceolum 

 speciosum, which has failed here so often, were sent me 

 by a lady : ' The two great needs seem to be moisture 

 but not great moisture at the roots and dampness of 

 atmosphere round the foliage when in summer growth. 

 These objects are best obtained by first, in England, or 

 at least in the southern counties, a north wall ; second, by 

 being planted about two feet deep in a trench properly 

 prepared for it; third, by frequently syringing in the 

 summer. I have found a trench a foot wide and a foot 

 and a half deep suit it best. But if the subsoil is clay or 

 a tenacious soil the trench should be made two feet deep, 

 the bottom six inches being filled with drainage pieces 

 of broken stones or brick. The soil with which it is next 

 filled should be peat and ordinary loam in equal propor- 

 tions, with a little sand and leaf -mould thrown in and 

 thoroughly mixed with the whole. Sphagnum cut and 

 chopped into small bits this retains the moisture, which 



