11 JANUARY 1946, Page 16

In My Garden - In discussing some of the rather

rarer vegetables I suggested Golden Bantam (which has a delicious flavour) as the best variety of sweet corn, which is not the easiest of plants to grow in colder, dis- tricts. The greatest of specialists consider that a much more quickly maturing variety is necessary in the Midlands and the North at any rate, and comes down in favour of John Lanes Hybrid, as the earliest of all and earliness is essential. I have faith in his judgement, but a generous gift of this seed will enable me to make personal tests. Among really rare vegetables one gardener urges the more general popularity of the pea-bean, the asparagus-pea, the potato-onion, and rejoices in the growing of many herbs, including chives, chervil. taragon, garlic and Hamburg parsley—for the grated root. Person- ally I am fond of hyssop. Many seeds are hard to get, even of so well-known a vegetable as scorzonera. Doubts whether war condi- tions were sufficiently over to warrant the ordering of flower-seeds, have been resolved, as mentioned before, by the generous gift of annuals from a gardener who always saves his own seeds. One ought to ; but must go back-to the specialists at least from time to time, if