MARCH 265 



appearance and delicate scent give me a great deal of 

 pleasure year by year. 



Mustard and Cress, much grown in boxes in early 

 spring, .and which is so delicious at five o'clock tea or 

 with bread-and-butter and cheese, many people will not 

 eat because it is often gritty. This certainly makes it 

 horrid ; and if the Cress is washed it makes it very wet, 

 often without getting rid of the grit. The best way to 

 grow it is to make the earth very damp before sowing, 

 press it down flat, and then sow the seed very lightly on 

 the top, making a division between the Mustard and Cress. 

 Cover it with a tile, or something else to make it dark, till 

 it has sprouted, and then cut it carefully straight into the 

 plate or small fancy basket in which it is to be served, 

 without washing it at all. If grown in this way and care- 

 fully cut, there will be no grit whatever. I find small, low, 

 round, Japanese baskets of various sizes (from Liberty's) 

 are most useful in a house with a garden. They are beauti- 

 fully made and very pretty, and fruit can be picked into 

 them at once, and served either at breakfast or luncheon 

 without any fingering in the pantry or kitchen. 



March %8th. Towards the end of this month, or quite 

 the beginning of next, it is most important to erect 

 shelters under walls or trees, where the sides can be 

 protected from wind and the top covered up on cold 

 nights, as now is the time it is so important to clear out 

 greenhouses, both for the sake of the hardier plants that 

 are going out, and the more special ones that remain inside. 

 When they are moving, feeling the spring in all their 

 fibres, that is the time they begin to get weak and drawn 

 up if not given room and air. This is especially the case 

 with the large old Geraniums that are in the greenhouse, 

 Carnations, Abutilons, not to mention all the forced things 

 that have done flowering. Putting them out under these 

 shelters hardens them off well before they are planted out 



