So RIVERSIDE LETTERS X 



gave me some work, as I mentioned in my 

 last letter, but it did not injure the Mowers 

 otherwise ; whereas numbers of the fatter 

 blooms of my other roses, Marechal Neil, 

 Gloires, and General Jacquimenots were rotted 

 in the bud by wet. I give only a slight top 

 dressing now and then to the narrow borders 

 in which these roses are planted, which has to 

 serve for them and sundry other plants, 

 chiefly aquilegias or columbines, which grow, 

 mostly self-sown, from year to year, closely 

 over the rose roots. I have read in some 

 rose-grower's book that roses resent having 

 plants above their roots, but I believe from 

 repeated trials and observation that they 

 resent much more having only bare earth ; 

 anyhow my roses and columbines get along in 

 perfect accord. These columbines are chiefly 

 crosses between A. cerulea and A. chrysantha, 

 infinitely varied in their colour and form. 

 Great numbers of bulbs lurk beneath the 

 columbines such as crocuses, scillas, tulips, 

 and daffodils, which put in a cheerful appear- 



