MARCH 257 



Move the lines and so hoe all the bed, which will then 

 consist of a number of thin lines of seedlings eight inches 

 apart, and the hoed -up ones lying between. 



' 7. About a week later stretch the lines again eight 

 inches apart at right angles to the previous lines, and hoe 

 again. This when finished will leave a number of tiny 

 square patches of seedlings eight inches apart each way. 



' 8. A week later thin out the little patches by hand, 

 leaving only one plant in each. Now every plant will 

 have eight inches square to grow in. 



' 9. Directly the plant shows the first sign of running 

 up to blossom, put a thin line of two-feet-high pea-sticks 

 between every two or at most every three lines of the 

 plants to strengthen them to resist the wind and rain. 

 They will soon grow above and hide the sticks. 



' 10. In dry weather thoroughly soak the bed once a 

 week. A little sprinkle overhead is no use. 



1 N.B. Be sure the operation described in No. 6 is 

 done early enough, otherwise the plants will have become 

 " teggy " before your thinning is complete, and when once 

 Poppies become " leggy " they are practically ruined.' 



March lth. My garden is now full of the old wild 

 sweet Violet (Viola odorata) of our youth before even the 

 ' Czars ' came in, much less the giant new kinds. I have 

 an immense affection for this Violet, with its beautiful 

 intense colour and its delicate perfume. It grew all 

 about the Hertfordshire garden under the hedges, and 

 little seedlings started up in the gravel paths, looking 

 bold and defiant ; but all the same they were rooted out 

 by the gardener when summer tidying began. At the 

 end of March or early in April, when the rain comes, I 

 divide up and plant little bits of these Violets everywhere, 

 and they grow and nourish and increase under Gooseberry 

 bushes and Currant bushes, along the palings covered 

 with Blackberries, under shrubs anywhere, in fact and 



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