212 MORE POT-POURRI 



whole year's growth. I think anyone who grows forced 

 Tea-roses for picking will find they do far better and look 

 more satisfactory in water if floated in large glass bowls 

 than if only their stalks are in water. 



I received a letter to-day from the Engadine, describ- 

 ing a phase of modern luxury which reads strangely to 

 those who live quietly in country corners. My friend 

 writes from San Moritz, and thus describes an episode 

 in a fancy-dress ball : ' In the cotillon they had an 

 enormous silver sledge smothered in the most gorgeously 

 lovely flowers Imantophyllums, Lilium speciosum, Lilies 

 of the Valley with stalks eight inches long, White 

 Lilac, and Prunus. And all these looked as if they had 

 just been freshly gathered; yet the whole thing came 

 from a flower-shop at Frankfurt-on-the-Main. I must say 

 I never saw anything prettier, and in the sledge sat a 

 lovely downy young English beauty, scattering bunches 

 of flowers about, as they dragged her round the room. 

 The whole thing seemed beautiful Fairyland up here in 

 this world of ice and snow.' I suppose it is no more 

 luxury for those who can afford it than my humble little 

 greenhouse, which also costs money ; yet one cannot help 

 feeling sorry that these beautiful hot-house flowers 

 should have been dragged up there for the wasteful 

 enjoyment of one evening. 



EECEIPTS 



Poulet a la Valencienne. Cut a good fowl into 

 pieces. Wipe it dry, but do not put it into water. Take a 

 saucepan, put in a wineglassful of olive oil, and add two 

 cloves of garlic. Be careful that it does not burn ; for if 

 it does, it will turn bitter. Stir the garlic until it is fried. 

 Put in the chicken. Keep stirring it about while it fries, 

 then add a little salt, and continue to stir. Whenever a 



