6 IN A GLOUCESTERSHIRE GARDEN 



the garden is favourable for the cultivation of flowers, 

 and especially for the cultivation of shrubs, except 

 those which dislike the lime. With this introduction I 

 go to the record for January. 



' This is the state of man : to-day he puts forth 

 The tender leaves of hopes ; to-morrow blossoms, 

 And bears his blushing honom-s thick upon him : 

 The third day comes a frost, a killing frost ; 

 And, when he thinks, good easy man, full surely 

 His greatness is a-ripening, nips his root. 

 And then he falls.'— A'. Hmry VIII., iii. 2, 



This may well stand as the description of the 

 gardener during the December and January of 1892-3. 

 The first three weeks of December were so mild 

 that many letters were written to the papers de- 

 tailing the goodly collections of flowers that could 

 be picked in almost all parts of the kingdom. 

 Here I had an abundance of the bright flowers of 

 Cyclamen coum; I picked several flowers of the sweet- 

 scented Chimonanthus ; the Iris reticulata was shooting 

 so thickly through the ground that, knowing how 

 rapidly the flowers are formed after the first appear- 

 ance of the leaves, I thought it quite possible that 

 I might gather some of the lovely blossoms even on 

 New Year's Day ; the snowdrops were pushing their 

 white sharp points through the grass and in the beds 

 in every direction ; on many of the cottages there 



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