How beautiful are these early autumn mornings! Here, at any rate, they have qualities unequalled all through the long year. The flowers shine with colour out of the grey mists, as they do at twilight in the long summer evenings, and the gardens now are all filled with dewy gossamer.

Two new autumn Crocuses have lately been brought to my notice; one, C. speciosus, is very pretty standing up straight and strong on a border or rockery. It is of a very blue colour, with a centre of lovely stamens and stigma forming a bright orange tassel. These species of Crocus are much more satisfactory to grow in borders than the pale Colchicums of the Swiss meadows, as they are true Crocuses, and only form in spring slight narrow leaves instead of the despairingly coarse growth of the Colchicums, which, dying down in the end of May, make such an eyesore in the borders; it seems best therefore to plant the latter in grass. My double and single Italian Daturas are later this year than usual, owing to the wet weather; but they are covered with blooms now, and very sweet. The double ones will last longer in water, scenting a room, than the single ones. We plant them out at the end of May; and when they have been out three weeks or so, a spade is passed round them to cut the roots, and a ditch made, which is filled in with manure. This generous treatment makes the whole difference in their flowering well. I cannot say whether it would be necessary in a damper soil, but I think it would, as cutting their roots in spring stimulates them to flower earlier, before the frost comes. The old plants are taken up and put into pots, and housed for the winter. This is such a happy time of the year for a gardener. There is a sense of power about it; all the planting and planning and changing are done now. One is loth to disturb beds till the frost comes and kills things down; but it is most desirable not to put off planting, and to get everything done one can before any real cold comes.

I am gradually clearing away nearly all the Laurels I found on the place, only keeping those growing under trees, and others that form a protection against the north-east wind; but even those few that are left want constantly cutting back, as they soon encroach and choke everything else. At the stores they sell a most excellent instrument for pruning, called the 'Myticuttah.' There are some with long handles and some with short; they cut through quite big branches like butter, and are really indispensable. The work is not too tiring for any woman to do herself, and everyone should have a strong pair of French nippers as well, for cutting back smaller shrubs and plants. One is always seeing in catalogues that this plant or that will do for the borders of shrubberies. My experience is that no summer herbaceous plants do in the borders of shrubberies at all, though spring and autumn things may do fairly well; and many of the smaller shrubs, like Lavender Cotton, Rosemary, and Brooms of sorts, will hold their own in front of larger shrubs.