CHAPTER VI 



Numerous Early Comers 



FOLLOWING close on the heels of the Crocuses come Sct'tta 

 bifolia and Chionodoxa sardensis racing Anemone blanda for 

 the honour of forming the first blue carpeting of the year, 

 for not one of these is much use as dots or stiff little rings 

 in front of a large label, and all are quite unsuitable for the 

 modern millionaire's made-by-contract, opulent style of gar- 

 dening a thing I hate rather than envy, so don't make 

 mental remarks about the proverbial acidity of the immature 

 fruit of the vine. The filling of so many square yards of 

 prepared soil with so many thousands of expensive bulbs, 

 to yield a certain shade of colour for a fortnight and then 

 to be pulled up to make place for another massing, gives 

 me a sort of gardening bilious attack, and a feeling of pity for 

 the plants and contempt for the gardening skill that relies 

 upon Bank of England notes for manure. But I love a 

 large colony of some good plant that you can see has 

 spread naturally in a congenial home, aided by the loving 

 care of an observant owner. It has the same charm of 

 refinement and antiquity that one gets from an old house 

 where the Chippendale chairs and cabinets have stood on 

 the same polished boards and time-toned carpets ever 

 since they were new. It is a case of good taste and 

 knowledge from the first, and watchful care and apprecia- 

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