THE GARDEN AT HOME 



Operation. This is a dreadful word to use in the 

 garden, but one gets hardened, I suppose, for we all talk 

 about doing this in one " operation," or doing that in two 

 (which sounds more dreadful still). But everything is an 

 " operation " to the gardener, whether it is root-pruning 

 fruit trees or potting seedlings. So, after all, it is not 

 quite so bad as it sounds. 



Pan. There are many kinds of pots, but the gardener 

 acknowledges only one a flower pot. There are also many 

 kinds of pans, but the gardener knows only two. Chief 

 of these is the flower pan, which is of earthenware, wide 

 and shallow and more useful for seed sowing than a flower 

 pot, since it is easier to get the seedlings out when they 

 are ready for " pricking out " or potting off. The other 

 " pan " recognised by the gardener is found only by 

 digging a hole in clayey land. When a hard, impene- 

 trable mass of clay is reached, one has found the second 

 " pan." 



Piping. A " piping " is a kind of cutting, but whereas 

 you cut off the base of a common or garden cutting, 

 you merely pull out of its- socket the shoot that is to be 

 a piping. This term is most commonly used with refer- 

 ence to the increase of the Pink. 



Plunge. To " plunge " a plant you have to do 

 nothing so dreadful as the word might be thought to 

 imply, only to dig a hole in the ground and put the 

 flower pot in it. The value of " plunging " is that the 

 soil in the flower pot dries up less rapidly than when it is 



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