BAESKIMMING 



upon another, make a pillar about five feet high, 

 and, being waste products, can be had for little more 

 than the cost of carriage. 



Now as to the flower borders, with their varied 

 contents and their fine combination of freedom with 

 discipline, one has to remember that every plant has 

 to withstand the climate of a cold Ayrshire upland 

 about 400 feet above the sea. This, therefore, is not 

 one of those gardens whereof the owner is lured to 

 disappointment by attempting the open-air culture 

 of plants just outside the limits of perfect hardiness. 

 Miss Bertha contents herself with things which will 

 flourish anywhere in the British Isles, provided that 

 they are wisely handled. The greater the surprise, 

 therefore, to find a bed of Ixias in luxuriant blossom. 

 The bulbs were planted at the beginning of January, 

 1907, and, in virtue of a perfectly drained and light 

 soil, withstood the rigours of twenty-five degrees of 

 frost and a peculiarly trying spring. We do not, 

 however, recommend an attempt to grow these gay 

 flowers in the north, except for a single season's 

 display. Like the Persian ranunculus, they require 

 baking in hotter sunshine than our Scottish firma- 

 ment permits, to prepare them for a second year's 

 display of their brilliant colours. 



The general effect of the borders at the time of 

 our visit was given by larkspurs, roses, iris and 

 campanula of many kinds, the most distinct of the 

 bell-flowers being the rich blue species now classed 

 as C. rhomboidalis, though why in the world it 



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