HO BRIEF REMARKS. 



become uncouth. I have a bulb border ; I cannot call it a bulb garden, 

 but it completely eclipsed all the rest of my garden, until, with the 

 increase in the third year, I was enabled to make bulbs a very import- 

 ant feature in the general arrangement, but I will confine my remarks 

 to the bulb border ; and although I write from memory and far from 

 home, I will endeavour to convey an idea of its plan, arrangement, and 

 effect. In February and March the principal subjects are the Snow- 

 drop, the early Daffodils, the brilliant Scilla sibirica, and the Crocus, 

 of which there are several varieties ; then I have the white of the Snow- 

 drop, the yellow of the Daffodils, the bright blue of the Scilla, and 

 among the Crocuses the dark purple, the white, the striped, and the 

 golden yellow. Here, then, is but one leading colour deficient ; but 

 there are dwarf trees of the Pyrus japonica upon the wall, and they 

 from Christmas to the end of spring furnish a great abundance of red. 

 But before my favourite bulbs already mentioned decline, I have early 

 Tulips of many colours, the first of which show their colours before 

 the Crocuses depart, and Hyacinths of many shades in blue, red, and 

 an apology for yellow, and after this the late varieties of the so called 

 early Tulips, and the later Hyacinths and the Narcissus tribe assisting 

 them, keep up a complete galaxy of beauty all the month of April and 

 part of May. The Iris family, which is immensely extensive, begin to 

 help me, and the late Tulips take their full share of decoration until 

 the Iris become numerous and various, when the Lilies render great 

 service, and continue, with some of these species, to enliven the bor- 

 ders to about the end of summer. Now during all these months very 

 little aiil is required to keep up a full bloom, and I have not once con- 

 templated disturbing the ground, except by hoeing carefully to destroy 

 weeds, nor do bulbs require watering. I do not conceal the fact that 

 I was a considerable time before I could please myself with the 

 arrangement to keep something like a uniform quantity of flowers 

 always on the border, for it was only 4 feet wide, but I derived infinite 

 pleasure from the changes I made from year to year, and I will also 

 confess that now that I have distributed bulbs moderately in the 

 general borders, I am better pleased with the other part of the garden 

 than with the border dependent on bulbs, except so far as it interests 

 me as an experiment ; for they are brilliant additions in early spring, 

 and greatly assist the general effect all the year. At times the bulb 

 border is almost too dazzling, yet I am convinced that I shall in time 

 so regulate it as to secure a good bloom nearly the whole vear ; at the 

 fall I now have, to succeed everything, the autumnal Crocusses in 

 variety, and the (so called for many years) Amaryllis lutea, so that 

 there is a fair struggle to keep the flowers up to winter. My 

 greatest trouble is in keeping the border neat as the various bulbs go 

 out of bloom, but as fast as the steins or leaves turn yellow I shorten 

 them to the part that is a good colour, and thus manage pretty well. 

 I would not go so far as to recommend everybody to try a border of 

 bulbs, but I would advise them to have in all the borders a few patches 

 (for all bulbs look best in patches) of Snowdrops, Crocuses, Scilla 

 sibirica, and the earliest Daffodils in sixes. A few patches of Hyacinths 

 in threes, early Tulips the same ; if these several patches were ten 



