4 JANUARY 1946, Page 19

In My Garden In the interval between Christmas and the

New Year were blooming a number of shrubs: both the purple and white. Daphne, Prunus ,Sub- birtella Autunmalis (a mass of bloom), Pyrus. Japonica, Genista Cinerea, Mermaid, Ophelia and ZephSnine Drouhin roses, as well as the more regular winter flowerers, Viburnum Fragrans and Tinos. A yet' more eloquent, though unwelcome, sign of the mildness of the weather was the emergence of the hive bees in some numbers. In the vegetable garden spring cabbage threatens to be " winter-proud." The doubt whether to order annual flower seeds has been resolved by the kind gift of a quantity

of packets from a wiser gardener who saves his own seed. • W. BEACH THOMAS.