40 A YEAR IN A LANCASHIRE GARDEN. 



Garden at Dublin, in the beginning of May, two 

 beds, which struck me as being almost the most 

 effective in their colouring of any I had ever seen. 

 One was of Nemophila, the other of Virginian stock ; 

 one was a mass of the most brilliant blue, the 

 other a blending of shades of tenderest lilac. The 

 blooms were thick and close as possible, and the 

 size of the flowers much finer than that of the 

 ordinary spring-sown annuals. The manager of 

 these gardens kindly explained to me his secret : 

 the -seeds were sown in autumn, pricked out in 

 spring, protected during the early months, and 

 then finally bedded out. Last year we tried with 

 the Nemophila, but we were too soon, and the 

 frost caught us and destroyed our plants. This 

 year we are later, and, by giving some protection 

 against cold and sun for a few days longer, I hope 

 to reproduce what I saw in Dublin. Another year 

 I may make trial of the Virginian Stock as well. 



The Hyacinth bed has done fairly well, but 

 there were too many pinks among the spikes for it 

 to be quite successful. The Van Thol Tulips are 

 a terrible failure. Some mice got to the bed, and, 

 though we have killed thirteen of them, they had 

 already eaten away so many of the crowns that 

 some dozen Tulips, appearing here and there, are 



