The Garden Under Glass

72 THE GARDEN UNDER GLASS only have the tips just covered. Three parts loam, two parts leaf-soil, one part mushroom manure, sharp sand and Peiuvian guano make up the compost which I have found will grow excellent freesias. I do not believe in plunging the pots, but instead of this I would put them in a cold frame and cover this with a thick mat until the blades appear above the surface. Until this time no watering beyond what was given immediately after potting will be needed. When the growths are four to six inches high they may be supported with stakes, four or five being put round the pot. A method which I have found successful is to place five sticks equidistantly round the side of the pot and to lace the matting around and between them so as to form a starlike appearance, each stick being at a point of the star. It is very simply done in this way. A sufficiently long, strong and twisted piece of matting is got ready. One end is held in the lef t hånd while with the right it is laced round. The matting is passed round the outside of two stakes, the third is missed, and the matting passed from the second to fourth, round the outside of the fourth and fif tb, missing the first, over the second and third, and so on, each time going round the outside of two and missing one until the point of commencement is reached, when a neat reef-knot completes the operation. The tying material should be sufficiently tight to have a slight pull on the sticks. When this is done it is a simple matter to adjust the growths in the separate compartments formed. As the plants grow the arrangement of matting can be moved up higher. Growths from a privet hedge, stripped and dried, make useful stakes for the purpose. If they must be used green it will be advisable to peel off the bark from that portion which enters the soil. When the spikes seem likely to show, a few of the plants