88 A GARDEN DIARY 
JANUARY 20, 1900 
CBee, wind this morning was excruciatingly 
cold, with a hungry whistle, that belied 
the pale sunrays, which were doing their best 
to redeem the situation. On such a morning 
the good gardener’s thoughts, even before going 
out, fly to the younger and weaklier amongst 
his plants, and his imagination towards devising 
new shelters, and, if possible, more efficient ones. 
Creepers are, as a rule, easily protected; either 
there is a wall, against which mats can be laid, 
or, at worst, some post that they can be fastened 
to. It is shrubs in the open that present the 
greatest difficulty ; nightcaps of sacking, or tents 
of matting not adding to the picturesqueness 
even of a winter garden. 
Our more recently planted rhododendrons look 
anything but happy, and I have just been begging 
Cuttle to bestow a good shovelful of nourish- 
ment about the roots of each of them. It is not 
protection that they need, for they are hardy 
enough, but they sicken in this thin, dry soil, 
