GARDENING FOR SHORT TENANCIES 207 



would have to be arranged to carry the weight ; for the 

 sudden descent of a fruit weighing a hundred pounds 

 might be disconcerting, even if not dangerous, to any 

 one who had sought the repose and shade of the leafy 

 bower. I always have the seed of the Potiron rouge 

 from that great French firm, Messrs. Vilmorin, Quai de 

 la Megisserie, Paris. Vegetable Marrows can be used 

 in exactly the same way, and there are many pretty 

 varieties of smaller growing Gourds described in Messrs. 

 Vilmorin's catalogue as well as in those of our home 

 seedsmen. All are grown in the same way : sown in 

 pots in hotbed or warm greenhouse, gi'adually inured 

 to a cooler temperature when they have got two pairs 

 of rough leaves, and planted out early in June with 

 hand-lights or bell-glasses over them for ten days, 

 more and more air being gradually given. The seed 

 should be soaked for twelve hours before sowing, and 

 where they are to grow, good holes must be prepared 

 with a barrow-load of manure worked into the bottom 

 of each, and some of the best mixed soil available, for 

 the young plants to root into at the top. 



I have often thought what a beautiful bit of 

 summer gardening one could do, mainly planted with 

 things usually grown in the kitchen garden only, and 

 filling up spaces with quickly-grown flowering plants. 

 For climbers there would be the Gourds and Marrows 

 and Runner Beans ; for splendour of port and beauty 

 of foliage. Globe Artichokes and Sea-kale, one of the 

 grandest of blue-leaved plants. Horse-radish also 



