16 JANUARY 1942, Page 13

In the Garden For house decoration the open garden has

supplied little vases of Iris stylosa, associated with yellow jessamine, a few pink and blue primroses and plenty of that useful vulgarian, lungwort, of which the pink variety seems to be hardier than the white or blue. In the vegetable garden digging is the chief work of the month; and it is a virtue in the gardenet if he prefers the spade before the fork. It makes a better tilth, and some small experiments bear out the local belief that growth is colic- as well as better on spade-dug ground. It is worth notice how early pink buds of rhubarb have appeared. They should be covered at once with straw or dry leaves and any form of pot