XXVIII 



MID- AUGUST and the lists beginning to come in ! Mr. 

 Eden Phillpotts, in his delightful garden book, says that no 

 one is a true garden lover who is not instantly lost in 

 every nurseryman's list, who does not immediately draw 

 out orders far beyond his means, and spend his time in 

 plans and combinations that shall transcend Kew as well 

 as Babylon. What garden lovers are we in this respect \ 

 It is only when the orders are written out and the prices 

 totted up that sober reason obtrudes its forbidding 

 countenanceand then the painful process of ''knocking 

 off" begins. Nevertheless we are becoming adepts in 

 combining lavishness with economy, There are delightful 

 firms whose plants are literally to be had at a quarter 

 of the price of others, with results quite as happy. 

 There is the Dutchman who sends us our bulbs. He has 

 grown to be a friend, and his English letters are charming, 

 "Dear Mrs./' he wrote when Gladioli, "The Bride/' 

 arrived in a state no Bride should be in, really without a 

 wedding garment-" Dear Mrs., She is a flower the most 

 agreeable in the garden, but she is very unpleasant to 

 travel/' 



His catalogue makes equally fascinating reading. The 

 quaint spelling and phraseology are more than attractive. 

 Who, for instance, would not wish to invest in Narcissus, 

 thus described : 



" Astrardente, white and apricot orange, edged fiery scarlet 

 magnificent and nice flowers." 



" Nothing/' says another grower, " can equal, much less 

 excel, early single Tulips." 

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