174 BERTHA'S VISIT TO HER 



shall not go on half so pleasantly, for these peo- 

 ple will interrupt all our employments, and will, 

 I suppose, be very formal. I said so to my aunt 

 this morning, and I was surprised to find that 

 she was not of that opinion ; I thought she would 

 particularly dislike having the regular., happy life 

 here deranged. 



I have been very busy in my garden this 

 morning. With some help I have completed the 

 little flower beds, which I intend to be so pretty 

 next spring they are intermixed with grass- 

 plots, and are made up of good, fresh earth, pro- 

 perly prepared for the plants they are to contain. 

 Mary, who seems to have a great deal of know- 

 ledge, has assisted me for I find that much of 

 the art of gardening consists in suiting the soil 

 to the nature of the plants. In my jonquil bed, 

 she advised me to put abundance of sand, and 

 no manure. This has been done ; and this fine 

 mild dry day, I planted it with the bulbs as she 

 directed me. I have a narcissus bed, too, and 

 this has been made up with what the gardener 

 calls hazel loam, and a small portion of manure. 

 These two beds, along with one for hyacinths, 

 that I described before, and one for carnations, 

 make up what I call my regular flower-beds, on 

 the upper part of the sloping bank. Besides 

 these, I have two beds at one side, one for roses 

 of different kinds, and one for white lilies. These 



