CHAP. v. WILD BOTANICAL GARDEN. 77 



ten feet wide. It was covered with stones, bits of 

 bricks, and broken tiles. Edward removed these from 

 the ground, and put them in a corner by themselves, 

 covering them with earth. He dug over the ground, 

 manured it, and turned it over again. Then he 

 divided the space into compartments for the recep- 

 tion of plants and flowers. These were brought 

 from the fields, the woods, and the banks adjoining 

 the Dee and the Don. He watered and tended them 

 daily ; but alas ! they would not flourish as they had 

 done on their native soil He renewed them again 

 and again. The rasp, the wild strawberry, the fox- 

 glove, or dead men's bells as it is there called, the 

 hemlock, some of the ferns, and many of the grasses, 

 grew pretty well ; but the prettiest and most delicate 

 field flowers died away one by one. 



His mother, who delighted in flowers, advised him 

 to turn the ground into an ordinary garden. Now, 

 although Edward loved garden flowers, he very much 

 preferred those which he found in the woods or grow- 

 ing by the wayside, and which he had known from 

 his infancy. Nevertheless, he took his mother's 

 advice ; and knowing many of the places near the 

 town, where the gardeners threw out their rubbish, 

 he went and gathered from thence a number of roots, 

 flowers, and plants, which he brought home and 

 planted in his garden. The greater number of them 

 grew very well, and in course of time he had a 

 pleasant little garden. He never planted more than 



