Pot-pourri from a Surrey garden

On the frontis- piece of his book Andrews has a quaint picture of a greenhouse for growing his Heaths. Towards the end of the year I will tell you about those of my books which belong to this century. 70 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN APEIL Whims of the weather — Spring flowers — The herbaceous nursery — Love for the garden— A light sprayer- Homely French receipts — French gardening — The late frosts. April 2nd. — We came down to our little Surrey garden, only sixteen miles from London, for good yesterday ; and though the wind be ever so cold and the skies ever so grey, I yet feel that that which makes going to London worth while is the joy of coming back again. The ceaseless interest of a garden of this sort is in the variety, not only of the plants, but in the actual growth caused by the different seasons. This year the winter has been very mild, and dry too, which is unusual — and then came a very wet March, such as I do not remember since we have lived in Surrey, these fourteen years. It is really amusing to watch all that happens consequent on these whims of the weather ; the early and late, the wet and the dry, all making immense difference in the plants. Some are successful one year, and some another. Nothing is more charming just now than theForsythias. They are absolutely hardy, but they flower best on walls, even a north one, as the birds are extremely fond of the buds and can get at them much better when the plant is grown as a bush. The birds always seem to be extra- ordinarily destructive in this garden ; but I see that most gardeners, in their books, make the same complaint, and rather apologise to the common-sense of their readers for cherishing and feeding instead of destroying them. In APRIL 7I my garden I hang up on the trees, the pump, or shaded railings, little boxes with part of one side cut out for the birds to build in, and with lids that lift up for me to have the pleasure of looking at them. The fact is, birds do quite as much good as narm, though the harm is the more apparent ; and who would have a garden without song ? The Crown Imperials are in full flower. They, like many other bulbs in this light soil, reproduce themselves so quickly that they want to be constantly lifted, the small bulbs taken away and put in a nursery (if you wish to increase your stock), and the large ones replaced, in a good bed of manure, where you want them to flower the following year. It is best, if possible, to do this in June, when the leaves have died down, but not quite disappeared so that the place is lost ; one can, however, always find them in the autumn by their strong smell when the earth is moved beside them.