IV PLANTING 67 



tioii between the handle and the blade. In a stiff 

 soil it can be used sideways, if necessary, plough 

 fashion ; and it has a free point, which has many 

 advantages. 



Further, and especially, it is a Duplex : it is just 

 as efl&cacious in drawing as in pushing, and ordin- 

 arily should be used for pushing and drawing 

 alternately, thus covering double ground, as it 

 wastes no time in the air. A very short trial will 

 also show that it will work the ground the other 

 side of a plant, between it and the next one, with- 

 out the user changing his position, as no other Hoe 

 will. I do not like to puff it any further, though 

 the sale of it has never brought me profit or seems 

 likely to do so : but all who have tried it speak of it 

 as the best Hoe, and it would plainly be of no use 

 to mention it without adding where it is to be got — 

 Gr. C. Bennett and Son, Tavern Street, Ipswich. 



As to mulching for winter protection of the roots, 

 I do not believe it to be necessary, but the soil 

 should be loose on the surface even in winter, for a 

 friable and well-cultivated surface is a mulch as has 

 just been seen. Very long shoots of dwarf Eoses 

 may be shortened, not too much, but only to pre- 

 vent the wind getting much hold of them. This 

 does not apply to the Noisettes, Marechal Niel, or 

 the Dijon race of Teas, whose long shoots must be 

 protected and tied to some support. 



If the collection is quite small, labels of as per- 

 manent a nature as possible may be used; but in 

 large collections, especially where, for exhibition, 

 many of a sort are grown together in rows, a book 

 with the rows numbered and the names written in 

 order will be found most convenient. 



F 2 



