Pot-pourri from a Surrey garden

But there are fairer things than these His fingers traced on every pane. Kocks and castles towering high, Hills and dales, and streams and fields, And knights in armour riding by With plumes and spears and shining shields. And here are little boats, and there Big ships with sails spread to the breeze ; And yonder palm-trees, waving fair On islands set in silver seas 22 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN And butterflies with gauzy wings, And birds and bees, and cows and sheep, And fruit and flowers, and all the things You see when you are sound asleep. For, creeping softly underneath The door when all the lights are out, John Frost takes every breath you breathe, And knows the things you think about. He paints them on the window-pane, In fairy lines, with frozen steam ; And when you wake, you see again The wondrous things you saw in dream. Londoners have the great advantage, in hard frosts, of being able to enjoy these frozen pictures, for nowhere can they be seen to such perfection as on the large window-panes of cold empty shops. Many people must have remarked this last winter. FEBEUAEY Forced bulbs— The exhibitions of the Eoyal Horticultural Society — Early spring salads and vegetables — Ehubarb tarts — Orange marmalade — Receipts by a French chef. February 8th. — This is essentially the month of forced bulbs — Hyacinths, Tulips, Jonquils, Narcissuses — charm- ing things in themselves, and within easy reach of everyone who can afford to buy them either as bulbs in the autumn or as cut flowers from the shops in spring. Bulbs do not even require a greenhouse, as they can be grown in a cellar and then in a frame, or, with care, quite as success- fully in a room with a south window. They depend on attention, and the result is so certain that they are not very interesting to the gardener, nor do they represent any variety of greenhouse culture. All the spring bulbs are cultivated in much the same way. Any of the old garden books published between 1840 and 1850, especially Mrs. London's ' Gardening for Ladies,' give detailed instructions on the growing of bulbs in pots and glasses, and in all other ways. One of my great pleasures in London in the early spring is going to the exhibition of the Royal Horticultural Society, at the Drill Hall, Westminster. I think all amateurs who are keen gardeners ought to belong to this society — partly as an encouragement to it, and also because the subscriber of even one guinea a year gets a great many advantages. He can go to these fortnightly 24 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN