CHAPTER XV 



Number of ipeciw Difficulty of cultivation WhiU Lilie 



Lilitim auratum. 



IK spring is to the gardener the season of pleasant 

 hojx>s and expectations, June in atxive all other months 

 tho month of hojjcs ami expectations more or lew 

 realised. Hy the general oWrver the chief thing noticed 

 is the full leafage of the month. So Spenser saw it :- 



' Aftrr her cainc ,IIly June, array!. 

 All in grvt'iu' leave*, MI he A j UMT were.' 



And so in Coleridge's eyes it was 'the leafy month of 

 June/ and HO it seems to he with nearly all the |x>eU. 

 But to the gardener it is the month of flowers ; and if 

 he were asked to di.Htingui.nh the days of June from the 

 davs of other months, he would answer almost in the 

 words of Aubrey de Vere, that they are the days in 

 which 



' The glorious nun'* light . . . nhowem 

 A thousand colours on a thousand floncrs. ' 

 166 



