My Garden in Spring 



checked and did not reach their usual height. We find 

 they like to have their crowns only just beneath the sur- 

 face, and a little raised, so that the long, fleshy roots, radiat- 

 ing from the crown like spokes from the hub of a wheel, 

 or the legs of a Brittle Starfish from its circular body, 

 may slope downwards into the soil. When planting we 

 lay them out in the hole dug for them, pour a potful of 

 sand over the crown, and then gently raise it two or three 

 inches so that the sand runs beneath it and supports it. 

 They are greedy feeders, and enjoy a mulch of good 

 manure ; Wellson's, which is practically dried sheep manure, 

 seems to agree with them. So we spread a layer of it on 

 the soil as soon as the great crown has pushed through, 

 and in a very short time the yellow, feeding rootlets will 

 have found it and pushed up thickly to gather the 

 nutriment. E. himalaicus likes a cooler position than 

 others, but its hybrid him-rob, like robustus, is happiest 

 in full sun and on well-drained soil. It is one of the most 

 vigorous, and falls little short of Elwesianus in size, but is 

 at its best rather later in the season. The yellow and 

 tawny ones mostly belong to next month, and so to another 

 volume. 



E. Tubergenii, however, a hybrid between himalaicus 

 and Bungei, flowers with its white parent, and Bungei 

 praecox should be opening the lowest blossoms of its spike 

 before May has gone. We do not believe in covering the 

 young growths unless something especially arctic in the 

 weather line catches them when the young flower-spikes 

 are visible in the open cups formed by the leaves. If the 

 crowns are covered when first through they are hurried 

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