almost as
well as those that are bought. Good frames can sometimes be had at sales
for an old song, and only require a coat of paint to make them as good as
new.

Here I will end my list, only reiterating that, however few tools you may
have, it is foolish to get any but the best.

A =summer-house= need not necessarily be bought ready-made. I have seen
many a pretty bower put together in the spare hours of the carpenter of
the family. There is one advantage in these =home-made summer-houses=,
that they are generally more roomy than those which are bought, and can be
made to suit individual requirements.

=HOW TO COVER A SUMMER-HOUSE.= Of course, it is more necessary to cover
these amateur and therefore somewhat clumsy structures with creepers, but
that is not difficult. Even the first summer they can be made to look
quite presentable by planting the =Japanese hop=. The leaves are
variegated, and in shape like the Virginia creeper. Messrs. Barr, of Long
Ditton, Surrey, told me it grew 25 feet in one season. It can be had from
them in pots, about the first week in May, for 3s. 6d. a dozen. Then there
are the =nasturtiums=, always so effective when =trained up lengths of
string=, with the dark back-ground of the summer-house to show up their
beautiful flowers. If the soil in which they grow is poor and gravelly,
the blossoms will be more numerous. The =canary creeper= is another plant,
which is so =airy and graceful= that one never seems to tire of it. Get
the seeds up in good time, so that when planted out they are of a fair
height, else so much of the summer is lost.

There are so many =uncommon climbing plants= which should be tried,
notably _eccremocarpus scaber_, _cobea scandens_, and _mina lobata_. The
last two are annual, and the first can be grown as such, though in mild
winters and in sunny positions it is a perennial. It =flowers whenever the
weather will let it=, and its blossoms are orange-yellow in colour, very
curious and invariably noticed by visitors. Reliable seeds of all three
can be had from Messrs. Barr, at 6d. a packet. The _cobea_ bears pale
purple bell-shaped flowers, and is a quick grower. _Mina lobata_ is
generally admired, and though of a different family bears a slight
resemblance to an _eccremocarpus_, both in the shape of its flowers and in
the way they are arranged on the stem. It is only half hardy. Clematis
_jackmanni_ and _montana_ are good for this position too. _Jackmanni_ is
the well