SEPTEMBER 39 



par', and that water acts as the required tonic; whereas 

 it is often that the dry weather has only hastened the 

 period of rest, and when that is the case nothing is so 

 hopeless as watering anything that is not in full growth. 

 Consequently, in mixed borders, unless very carefully 

 done, to a plant that is coming into bud, watering — 

 and, above all, hosing — is best left alone; and much 

 watering in the summer is very injurious to spring- 

 flowering shrubs. At the same time, copious soaking 

 once or twice a week is necessary very often to keep 

 newly planted things alive. Half-hardy planted -out 

 things, annuals, and plants lately moved from the 

 reserve garden, can safely be watered. In this Suffolk 

 garden all watering was done at four or five in the 

 morning, the gardeners leaving off work at two in the 

 afternoon. This plan, I think, would often work very 

 well, both for the masters and men, during the long, hot 

 days, but gardeners seldom like it. 



Receipts 



I indiscreetly asked one of my rather intimate friends 

 whether he had read 'Pot-Pourri.' He said, rather 

 hastily: 'No; I gave it to my cook.' This impressed 

 me with the idea that a good number of people valued 

 the first 'Pot-Pourri' a great deal more for its cooking 

 receipts than for anything else. Consequently, the book 

 quickly leaves the library or the drawing-room for the 

 kitchen, and I think it would be a distinct assistance to 

 the cook if I keep these new receipts as much as possible 

 together, though I allot them a place in each month, as 

 the times and seasons have such a great influence on 

 food and garden produce. In this book I reserve to 

 myself the right to spell recipe 'receipt,' to which some 

 of my friends objected before. I was taught that recipe 



