MAY 79 



which had been taken in for drying had sown them- 

 selves and made an inch or two of growth under 

 the greenhouse stage. So we potted them, and 

 kept them in a cold frame, until a period of warm 

 weather in early April made it possible to turn them 

 into the open ground, and they are now rewarding 

 us for our care by giving their sweet blossoms before 

 we have any right to expect them. 



Somebody said the other day that life is made up 

 half of boredom and half of unpleasant surprises. 

 Nevertheless, I am having several pleasant sur- 

 prises in my borders this spring. Part of my 

 business is to keep these borders weeded, but as 

 they require attention in this respect several times 

 in the early spring, I am obliged, though it is 

 against my principles, occasionally to depute this 

 duty to Thomas, with strict injunctions to pluck up 

 nothing; that he could have a doubt about. Evi- 



o 



dently the garden boy is not troubled with doubts, for 

 in ensuing summers I have grieved over my losses, 

 though attributing them to the rigours of the pre- 

 ceding winter. This spring, however, I have done 

 all my weeding myself, and am surprised to come 

 upon friends that I had given up for lost. Here is 

 a romneya coulteri planted three years ago. It did 

 not bloom in its first summer, and its head was 

 doubtless plucked off as a weed for two good 

 springs, for my eyes have not beheld it for that 

 period. There are also two or three statices in 

 places where statices are not used to be ; their early 

 growth might certainly be mistaken for that of the 

 dock, so the garden boy is held partly excused as 

 regards them. The same might be said for the 



