138 MORE POT-POURRI 



brown leaves beneath our feet ; the closing-in of curtains 

 in the warm fire-lit rooms where we grew up, which in 

 old age I see as plainly as if I had never left the house 

 where I was born. But to return to the weather of 

 this year, the following was in a newspaper a day or 

 two ago : ' A beautiful yellow butterfly was seen disporting 

 itself in the sunshine of yesterday.' I did not see a 

 butterfly here, but Chrysanthemums still linger, Violets 

 are out, and the yellow Jasminium nudiflorum is in 

 unusually full flower. 



I have no Mistletoe here, but I presume I might have 

 it if I cultivated it. It no doubt has become so much 

 rarer from being always cleared out of orchards, the 

 pretty pale-fruited parasite being no friend to the Apple- 

 trees. If one wishes to cultivate the Mistletoe, select a 

 young branch of Willow, Poplar, Thorn, or an old Apple- or 

 Pear-tree, and on the underside slit the bark to insert the 

 seed. The best time to do this is in February. One 

 may merely rub a few seeds on the outside of the bark, 

 but that is not so safe as inserting them actually under 

 the bark. Raising Mistletoe from seed is better than 

 either grafting or budding. 



This is a good time for planting Ivies. There are 

 many different kinds, and they will grow in such a satis- 

 factory way in such bad places. In London gardens or 

 back-yards Ivy can be made into quite a feature. As 

 Curtis says in his ' Flora Londinensis ' : ' Few people are 

 acquainted with the beauty of Ivy when suffered to run 

 up a stake, and at length to form itself into a standard ; 

 the singular complication of its branches and the vivid 

 hue of its leaves give it one of the first places amongst 

 evergreens in a shrubbery.' 



My Lancashire friend sends me a list of a few "Roses 

 and annuals. Lists are always so useful to all gardeners, 

 as it is interesting to know what one has got and what 



