Elms half covered with Ivy, looking almost like gigantic ever- February. 



greens, and under the brushwood already warm in tone with Snowdrops 



coming life. Sunshine reveals them at their best, the three- an( j Cycla- 



petalled bell is then open, displaying the green spotted frill men Coum 



inside. The low winter rays turn the grey-green leaves to a 



golden green, and transfigure a white that can look almost too 



coldly pure We have tried to naturalise them in our wood, 



but they will not grow as they do at Bourne Park, only three 



miles away, and it is foolish to hope for a real effect if they 



refuse to multiply of themselves ; a thousand bulbs planted, 



sounds rich in promise but the result is disappointing. They 



seem to revel and increase rapidly in a loose soil, rich with 



decayed wood and leaf mould and rather damp. My 



ambition is to get them established at the foot of a bank 



running up a slip of wood of mixed Beech, Elm and Oak, and 



lying open to the West. In the dampest part there is also to be 



a colony of the Swiss spring Snowflake, with its big round bell 



and spots of green outside. 



On the bank itself are already Cyclamen Coum^ ranging 

 from almost white to pink and rosy red. They are in flower 

 with the Snowdrops, sometimes appearing as early as January, 

 and make a precious and unusual bit of colour in these winter 

 months. They last many weeks and stand bad weather well, 

 reappearing as bright as possible from under a heavy fall of 

 snow. Their leaves are very dark and round and smooth, with 

 a rosy-purple underside, and help very much to make the tiny 

 flowers effective. Their position on the top of the bank seems 

 to suit them perfectly ; the tubers, throwing up a profusion of 

 flowers, grow larger each year, and distribute seedlings round 

 them in a most satisfactory way. To increase the stock it is a 



'9 



