f their cart to your garden instead of taking
it away. Quite a lot can be purchased for sixpence or so, and the mixture
is even more beneficial to some plants than the loads bought from the
contractor. When the neat little heaps are swept up at the roadside,
anyone may take it away. Householders can employ their own errand-boys to
do so, no charge being made whatever.

=Guano and artificial manures= in general are very stimulating, and must
only be given to plants in bud, or at all events full-growth. Sickly
plants or those at rest must never have it. =Soapsuds= form a mild
stimulant for rose-trees in summer, but these things do not come in place
of the manure with which the soil must be dressed in autumn; they are only
additions.

=LABELLING.= There has been much controversy over the labelling of plants;
it must be done very delicately, or the appearance of the garden is
spoilt; the word label usually presupposes a name to be written thereon,
but, in reality, =just a mark to show where a plant is=, often seems all
that is necessary, and this is very important indeed with plants which die
right down every winter. The most unobtrusive tallies must be used, and
they should be of zinc, or they will inevitably get lost. The wooden ones
are all right in the greenhouse, but no good at all outside. For
rose-trees, names are required, and =the "acme" labels are much the best=
ever invented for these, and have now been in use by all rosarians for
years; they can be had at Cant's Rose Nurseries, Colchester, for about 1s.
3d. a dozen, post paid.

=If we would keep plants in good health=, all dead flowers must be cut off
regularly; this is specially important in the case of sweet peas, pansies,
and other free-flowering plants, which become poor, and soon leave off
blossoming altogether, if allowed to form seed-pods. It is =a good plan=
to go round every morning with a basket and scissors, and snip off all
faded blooms, as, when several days elapse, the work becomes long and
irksome.

=As regards buying plants=, this comes somewhat expensive, until a little
knowledge and experience has been gained. After a while, the different
plants are known by sight, and one is able to see directly whether a
flower or shrub is well grown and of good colour. Then, instead of
ordering everything at the large nurseries, one can often pick up, in
one's wanderings, very =good things at small cost=. Until that is the
case, it is wiser to order from