CHAPTER VI 



LAPAGERIAS, both the red and the white, 

 do well here on a trellis, a little shaded 

 from the mid-day sun. But slugs and snails find 

 the young shoots so appetizing that I sometimes 

 know when a shoot is nearly through the ground 

 by a snail endeavouring to reach down through 

 the soil to meet it. So, after removing the snail, 

 I replace it by a slug protector, which is like 

 a flower-pot made of perforated zinc ; and having 

 been welcomed up in this safe and sure cage, the 

 shoot goes on growing safely for a few weeks, when 

 it is too long for its cage. Then I put on it a 

 tube-shaped muslin bag, but much too long ; and 

 I keep putting down its skirt as the shoot grows, 

 and when it has outgrown this garment it is also 

 safe from foes. I have had these plants for more 

 than sixteen years, but they never attempted to 

 seed until this year ; and I attribute the happy 

 event to the instrumentality of the humble-bee, 

 which has lately been imported here, and has 

 proved himself an fait at the fertilization of red 

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