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THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



surface of the pans. That the lu'st pan 

 should show the first tmt of green in 

 six days, was but a natural and proper 

 circumstance, and tliat the others being 

 on a warm shelf, and protected from eva- 

 poration, should show their seedling ])lants 

 in a fortnight, was also a matter of course, 

 but intensely interesting nevertheless, 

 for Spergula inllfera had excited my curio- 

 sity and expectations as much as other 

 people's. 



But my trouble was how to use it. I 

 was almost as bad off as the geutleman in 

 chambers who won an elephant in a ralile. 

 What was to be done with the produce of 

 five-and-sixpencc worth of seed, for I had 

 a sixpenny packet first just to look at if, 

 and then a crown's worth for a serious 

 venture. I suppose tJiere were two 

 thousand plants bristling over the seven 

 or eight pans, all growing vei'y slowly, 

 enjoying plenty of air, and taking as much 

 water as I chose to give them ; bearing, 

 indeed, to be lowered into a pail, and left 

 submerged for an hour, and after that 

 showing not the least signs of a tendency 

 to damp off. It so happened that my 

 garden had a rapid fall away from the 

 house, and just under the drawing-room 

 windows the lawn and walk were so steep 

 that to look on a bed of fuchsias, we had 

 there last year, was to see but half of 

 them, the further side of the bed dipping 

 too low to be in the line of vision. To 

 look at flowers from a lower level is in- 

 variably advantageous, but when they run 

 down till out of sight, there is a fault 

 needing correction. I therefore deter- 

 mined to remedy this obnoxious feature, 

 and at the same time make an experimen- 

 tal plot for the Spergula. We struck out 

 a circle of about seventy feet circumfer- 

 ence, and within that another circle of 

 forty feet circumference. If I explain 

 why these dimensions were chosen, I must 

 go into matters that have r,o bearing 

 whatever on the subject befo!' us ; there- 

 fore, let it suflice that these circles .vsre 

 marked out at the head of the lawn, and 

 the first task was to make it a dead ijvel. 

 To do this the lower side had to be raised 

 two feet, which was a mere question of 

 earth work. The conifers in the lopsided 

 bed were moved, the turf was stripped, 

 and the outside ring, oi' four feet six in 

 width, made up with fii; j loam from the 

 kitchen garden, enriched with compost 

 that had been made up for pottcl hya- 

 cinths the previous autumn, and wlujh 

 consisted of sharp sand, loam, leaf-mould, 

 and a very large proportion of rotten dung. 

 The inner circle, of thirteen feet diameter, 



was deeply trenched and heavily manured, 

 and at once planted with fifty roses in 

 three circles round a three-feet standard 

 ill the centre. While the Spergula was 

 growing and getting hardened in a frame, 

 and the I'oses getting hold of their new 

 quarters, the outer circle was frequently 

 rolled, weeded, and here aud there patched 

 up, as it sunk in places after heavy rains. 

 The last job was to fork it over lightly, 

 roll again, and try it with a spirit-level 

 and line, to see that surface and outlines 

 were true, and then to work with the 

 Spergula. 



Do not for a moment imagine this was 

 a very simple aud very pleasant task. It 

 was not a question of finance, but of back- 

 ache. I was determined to be iu it, and 

 with a hand to help, we began on Easter 

 Monday, each of us armed with a table- 

 fork, weeding and planting the inside row 

 next to the bed of roses. The first pan 

 was sufficient to make two rows of plants, 

 a foot apart, rouud that circumference of 

 forty feet. It was a bright day, and every 

 tuft was covered with an inverted flower- 

 pot, and, as soon as the sun was off, libe- 

 rally watered. In a few days those plants 

 held up, and looked fresh, aud were com- 

 mitted to the care of Nature. In the 

 meanwhile, other pans were hardened off, 

 aud circle after circle planted, till we got 

 to the outer boundary. I shall not forget 

 the 2nd of June, when I began, single- 

 handed, before four in the morning, and, 

 with a board covered with a mat to kneel 

 on, worked on in the rain till noon, with 

 only a short rest of a quarter of an hour 

 to get my breakfast in the greenhouse. 



By this time the whole circle had been 

 planted with little patches of plauts, afoot 

 apart, and the first two rows next the 

 roses had perished entirely. I think I 

 counted only two plants left of the whole 

 number. It was the terrible Maj- frosts 

 that did the work, and the plants being 

 young, raised iu heat, and coddled to get 

 a siglit of them, were, as might be ex- 

 pected, unable to stand it. But there 

 were two pans left yet, and on Whit-Mon- 

 day my curator and I went to v.ork for 

 the last time, made good the losses, and 

 dibbled iu tufts between all those pre- 

 viously planted, so that they were at last 

 only four or five inches apart all over. Ou 

 this 2'ith of June the tufts are thickening, 

 and beginning to show their true charac- 

 ter. The circle has the same green hue 

 that a sc'jded lawn has when the grass has 

 made ten days' start above ground; and 

 on looking closely at the plant, it is seen 

 to be putting out a sort of runners, or 



