SEPTEMBER 103 



know (if I may say so) when they are going to die, 

 and then to be able to put forth more vigorous means 

 for their reproduction. All gardeners know some in- 

 stances of this in some form or other, and in my own 

 garden it has been brought before me this year in a 

 very marked manner. For many years I have grown 

 a pretty little sea lavender (Statice Cosyrensis) from 

 Cosyra, a small island between Italy and Africa, now 

 called Pantellaria. Though a free bloomer, I never 

 knew it to produce a seedling or to form seed. Last 

 year it showed signs of decay from old age, and it 

 entirely disappeared in the winter, but this spring I 

 found a nourishing young seedling about a foot from 

 the parent plant, and since that I have found two or 

 three more still farther away. 



But I must come to a stop. I have only touched 

 the fringe of the subject, but from the little I have 

 said I hope my readers may learn that there is much 

 beauty left in their gardens even when the flowers are 

 faded. They will find the subject very puzzling and 

 very mysterious, but also very full of interest, and not 

 the less so because it will show how with all our 

 knowledge of plants we still have much to learn, and 

 indeed are very ignorant. It may interest any who 

 take up the subject to note how often in the New 

 Testament the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are 



