ANNUALS WORTHY AND UNWORTHY 89 



restrains, but is at the same time invisible, may feast 

 their eyes upon a spectacle of billows of white and 

 pink that, at a little distance, are reminiscent of the 

 orchards of May. 



But if you, Mary Penrose, are leaning toward cosmos 

 and reading in the seed catalogue of their size and won- 

 derful dawn-like tints, remember that the best of highly 

 hybridized things revert unexpectedly to the commonest 

 type, and somewhere in this family of lofty Mexicans 

 there must have been a totally irresponsible wayside 

 weed. Then turn backward toward the front of the 

 catalogue, find the letter A, and buy, in place of cosmos, 

 aster seeds of every variety and colour that your pocket 

 will allow. 



Of course the black golden-rod beetle may try to 

 dwell among the aster flowers, and the aphis that are 

 nursery maids to the ants infest their roots ; you must 

 pick off the one and dig sulphur and unslaked lime 

 deeply into the soil to discourage the other, but what- 

 ever labour you spend will not be lost. 



Other annuals there are, and their name is legion, that 

 are pretty enough, perhaps, and well adapted to special 

 purposes, like the decorative and curious tassel flower, 

 cockscombs, gourds, four o'clocks, etc., and the great 

 tribe of "everlastings" for those people, if such there 



