Pot-pourri from a Surrey garden

The employment of women as gardeners is still very much in embryo, although two of the Swanley pupils have been accepted at Kew. March Wth. — The Aucubas fruit well with us, and a branch of their bright shining green leaves and coral berries looks exceedingly well in a Japanese wedge and lasts a long time. We plant the male and female plants close together, but I am not sure that that is necessary. March l%th. — Asparagus should be planted now, and, MARCH 41 to save time, it is best to get two-year-old plants from France. I recommend Godfrey le Boeuf, Horticulteur, Argenteuil, pres Paris. Dig the ground three spits deep — that is, the depth of three spades — and put in every- thing you can that is good : well-rotted farm-manure, the emptying of cesspools, butchers' offal, dead animals, anything to enrich the soil for a long time. Cover up, cut out one spit deep in trenches, and plant the Asparagus a good way apart in single crowns. They do best planted in single rows with other crops in between. The goodness of Asparagus depends on the summer top -growth, so, if the weather is dry, they must be watered or liquid-manured, and should never be cut down till late in the autumn. It is a great mistake, when marking the nurseryman's seed list, to order the vegetable described as ' giant,' ' large,' ' perfection,' etc. Unless your soil is very strong such vegetables do not grow large, and they do grow tough and tasteless. This ' giant ' cultivation has been brought about to win prizes at shows. Amongst the delicious vegetables that have been ruined by growing them too large are Brussels Sprouts. I consider those sold in the London shops are not worth eating, they are so coarse ; but one can get the seeds of old-fashioned small kinds. These are far sweeter, nicer, and prettier, either for putting into soup, for boiling and frying after- wards in butter, or for boiling quite plainly in the ordinary English way. They are also far more delicate for a pure"e, which is an excellent way of dressing them. If fried and put on buttered toast, they make a very nice second-course vegetable in winter. Do other housekeepers ever wonder why we are con- demned invariably to eat Whitings with their tails in their mouths and always skinned ? One of the reasons is that small Haddocks are constantly sold by fishmongers for the rarer Whiting ; and if skinned, they are not so easy 42 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN to recognise. Try Whitings sometimes as they are eaten in Paris —lay them flat, not curled nor skinned, and cook them in a deep dish with butter or parsley. Squeeze lemon into them, and serve with brown bread and butter. They can also be fried in the usual way, only not curled. I think your male kind will approve of the change. March Wth. — I find that this is the best time for sowing annuals that have to be sown in place. If sown later, they never do so well. Poppies, Love-in-the-Mist, Mignonette, Sweet Sultans, Bartonia aurea, etc. This latter is a very effective annual. It must be sown in a large clump and well thinned out, which is the secret of most annuals. Twice a year, about March 15th and September 15th, I sow together broadcast Love-in-the- Mist and Gypsophila gracilis. They seem to support each other, and fixing a day for the sowing prevents one from forgetting.