COCKER'S NURSERY 



early training and what surprises may await those 

 who calculate upon its result, to read Byron's notes 

 upon his start in letters. " I had/' he says, " a very 

 serious, saturnine, but kind young man, named Pater- 

 son, for my tutor. He was the son of my shoemaker, 

 but a good scholar, as is common with the Scotch. 

 He was a rigid Presbyterian also/' 



The owner of this nursery, Mr. James Cocker, is an 

 enthusiast in his profession, one in whose company 

 an eager amateur will find no summer's day too long. 

 Field by field the speculative builder has encroached 

 upon his border, and field by field he has retreated 

 further into the country. Roses are his speciality; 

 but there is much else to interest him who concerns 

 himself, like the present writer, more with natural 

 species than with florists' varieties. The first display 

 to attract attention on this bracing June morning was 

 a breadth of St. Bernard's lily the fine variety known 

 as Anthericum liliago majus or Algeriense. Myriads of 

 milk-white, golden-anthered blossoms of perfect shape 

 waved in the breeze, suggesting irresistibly the 

 question why is this lovely lily so seldom seen in 

 private gardens ? The answer may be supposed to be 

 that its flowering season coincides with the summer 

 meetings at Epsom and Ascot, when so many country 

 people of means and leisure, however little they may 

 care personally for racing, leave the country at its 

 fairest to undergo the rush and discomfort of a 

 London season. 



The Chilian Ourisia coccinea, so chary of its brilliant 



2 c 209 



