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OUT-DOOR GARDENING. 



HE bright days of spring have suc- 

 ceeded to the cold of winter. Day 

 by day the sun grows warmer, and in 

 spite of the occasional flurries of 

 snow, the snowdrop nods in the sunny 

 border, the crocus goldens the garden, and the 

 hyacinths and tulips look out from their win- 

 ter's sleep. Our window garden, a source of 

 unfailing pleasure during the months of snow and 

 ice, and now clad in its spring dress of glossy 

 leaves and gay flowers, fails to satisfy, and only makes 

 us long for a more extended range, a larger field of opera- 

 tions. Even our Wardian case, always "beautiful, claims 

 less of our time, and we eagerly watch each new 

 growth in the out-door garden. But as yet it is far too 

 early to begin our out-door work. Did we plant our seeds, 

 they would decay in the cold ground ; the delicate roots of 

 bedding plants would be chilled and die. There are yet to 

 be many days before we can trust to the capricious weather, 

 many days during which, little by little, the earth will be- 

 come dry and warm under the potent heat of the sun and 

 the sweet influences of the vernal breezes, 



But still there is work that may be done, though it is as 



