VICTIMS OF THE STORM 99 



sider bad weather, because sunshine and rain 

 alternate quickly in a single day, and April weather 

 seems to show itself all the year round. One 

 storm in particular, after Christmas, caused such 

 havoc throughout the countryside that not only 

 were big trees uprooted, but a large piece of a 

 hedge was blown, root and all, into the middle of 

 a road. The garden is but slowly recovering from 

 the damage that was done, and some days have 

 been spent in mending many of the older portions 

 of pergolas and trellis-work, that, through age, 

 had become enfeebled, and consequently could not 

 bear up against the fast-speeding wind. Shrubs 

 and plants half-dragged from the ground have 

 been stamped in again and now resume an upright 

 position trying in vain to look as if nothing unusual 

 had occurred. One poor little sweet-scented ver- 

 bena is no more. Brave little thing, it had stood 

 the bufferings of many storms, but this last one 

 proved too much for it, in spite of canvas screens 

 and pea-boughs that were put round as a pro- 

 tection. With some trepidation, when the gale 

 abates, we pay visits of sympathy to many such 

 garden friends, but usually a little raised band of 

 straw, with which the lower portion of their stems 

 is bound loosely round in early winter, and a 

 protecting mulch of manure, preserve them from 

 shocks of sudden cold. Romneya Coulteri, the 

 myrtle, and our much-loved passion-flower are 

 none the worse, and it is whilst ascertaining this 

 that I make two discoveries, always refreshingly 

 new and yet connected enduringly with the early 

 days of the year. The sweet-smelling, baby flower 



