THE FLORAL WORLD 



AND 



GARDEN GUIDE. 



JANUARY, 186 8. 

 EOUaH AND EEADY GARDENING.— No. L 



SPKING FLOWERS. 



T is the custom to refer to Cliveden wlieu persuading 

 people to grow spring flowers. For the sake of ap- 

 pearing original, I shall not refer to Cliveden or any 

 other den, and I have the good excuse that the Duchess 

 of Sutherland can indulge her tastes in the gardening 

 way to an extent that very few of our readers can ever hope for ; 

 and hence what is done at Cliveden may not be possible in any of 

 the ten thousand smaller gardens the Eloral AVorld has to provide 

 for and think about. This, of course, is not meant as any disparage- 

 ment of Mr. Fleming's work ; the fact is, and we are not ashamed 

 to own it, his work is too much, too big, too grand for humble folks 

 of our stamp to regard it as the best possible example to imitate ; 

 and, besides, we don't want to imitate anybody, and for this present 

 we won't think of Cliveden any more, but just take comfort of the 

 fact that there are such things as primroses and violets which " have 

 a name in story." Yes, there are such things as primroses, and very 

 soon we shall see them peep out from the hedgerows to look for the 

 coming spring, and we shall perhaps see them blinded with snow 

 and rain through looking out too soon ; and yet on the first sunny 

 day that follows they will all be staring as before, and mutually 

 averring that the spring is coming. Even while writing this, on the 

 16th of December, we have on the table a great bunch of freshly- 

 gathered polyanthus flowers, gathered from a field close by, where 

 we have a plantation of tliese charming plants. They have been 

 flowering since the end of October, yet in April they will break 

 forth into their accustomed spring glory, as if not one of their buds 

 had been wasted in the winter season. To ask who loves spring 

 flowers is about as foolish as to ask who loves food. If I venture 

 to ask now, you will all reply at once, and compete in loudness and 

 earnestness, fur do I not know of your love ? Have we not met 

 upon this theme aforetime, and felt as if it was quite a discovery, 

 a surprise, a delight never heard of before, that there really are 



VOL. III. — NO. I. 1 



