212 MORE POT-POURRI 



they give but a faint idea of the unusual charm and 

 beauty of her self -created garden. Her book is most 

 truly called, 'Wood and Garden,' and is a never-ending 

 lesson of how to lay out a piece of ground by using its 

 natural advantages instead of hopelessly destroying them 

 by clearing the ground to make a garden. In this case 

 there can be no imitation, as, without the copse -covered 

 piece of ground which she selected, no one could produce 

 the same sort of garden. Nature must have had her 

 way first. But the charm of the combination of nature 

 and art as carried out by Miss Jekyll is very great. We 

 always open these books at the month we are in, and 

 she says: 'There is always in February some one day, 

 at least, when one smells the yet distant, coming sum- 

 mer.' Such a day has been ours to-day, and I enjoyed 

 it doubly in consequence of having so lately returned 

 from London. And the forwardness of the spring it 

 really is more forward even than last year makes one 

 enjoy it more. Though everything is growing so fast, 

 it is quite agitating for the gardener, giving the feeling 

 that all the work is behindhand. I am told that in my 

 first book many thought I recommended that things 

 should be done too soon; but, in my experience, human 

 nature rather tends to reversing the proverb, and acts 

 on the principle of 'Never do to-day what can be done 

 to-morrow.' And in all things about a garden, except 

 when Jack Frost is to be feared, it is best to be early 

 rather than late. 



My January -sown Green Peas are coming up very 

 well, but they would not survive except for the pea -wire 

 coverings, as the sparrows would nip out the hearts. 

 The black cotton strung about the Prunus Pissardii has 

 answered. I have far more bloom than I have ever had 

 before. 



As I rush about the garden, and see how the Daffies 



