202 MORE POT-POURRI 



mastered the difficulties of its culture at last. My method 

 is to defer planting until very late in the autumn. I put 

 the tubers into rather a small pot of nearly pure river 

 sand. This pot I place inside another larger one, and 

 plug the space between the pots with dry moss. I place 

 the pots on a shelf in the sunniest part of the greenhouse, 

 and give no water at all until some time after Christmas. 

 Strange to say, the green shoots begin to show before the 

 plants have received a drop of water. I give the water 

 very liberally at first, but in great moderation as the plant 

 shoots into growth. I let it have all the sun that shines, 

 and if the frosts are very severe at any time I take the 

 pots into my studio whilst the extreme cold lasts. This 

 year my treatment has been quite successful, and the plant 

 burst into bloom on the 4th of April.' 



This receipt will be extremely interesting to many 

 gardeners, and especially those and they are not few 

 who are striving to produce flowering Irises from January 

 to August. 



I believe I mentioned before Mrs. Brightwen's ' Guide 

 to the Study of Botany.' I should recommend every 

 amateur gardener to get it. It is a clear, cheap, popular 

 book, and any grown-up person or child who wishes to 

 understand the rudiments of the mysteries of botany 

 could not do better than have this book as a companion. 



Through the year, books on natural history and 

 gardening must be our constant companions to be any 

 real good. We must verify for ourselves what the book 

 tells us. This greatly increases the interest of life in the 

 country and no one is ever dull or bored who can learn 

 about plants and insects. I know, alas ! that to those who 

 really love to dwell in towns it is no use speaking of such 

 things. The poetry of life is never to be seen by them 

 out of the streets ; and children brought up in large towns 

 rarely acquire a love of the country, I think. I remember 



