158 FAMILIAR GARDEN FLOWERS. 



come before the swallow dares, are outdone in their haste 

 to scatter gold upon the ground to pay for the reckless 

 banqueting that is about to begin. In its own grassy 

 nooks of sunny Italy it flowers at Christmas, but in this 

 dull clime it does not often dare to lift up its head until 

 the month of March, and even later, if the winter has 

 been- of the cruel kind that people, as if in contempt of 

 the taste of their ancestors, cruelly describe as Cf old- 

 fashioned." The humble gardener, as remarked above, 

 scarcely knows this plant, although it is one of the cheapest, 

 and will grow anywhere. But the gardener who has to 

 keep a great parterre at all times gay has long since dis- 

 covered its value, and therefore he plants hundreds or 

 thousands, as the case may be, to produce masses of golden 

 flowers, according to the requirements of his complicated 

 designs in colour. It will not be expected that in this 

 place there should appear a disquisition on the bedding 

 system, but it is proper to note that in "spring bedding" 

 the principal elements are such homely flowers as daisies, 

 polyanthuses, forget-me-nots, primroses, and pansies ; and 

 where lines or blocks of soft yellow are required, the artist 

 dips his pencil into Eranthis hyemalis, or, in other words, 

 he plants the little herb, and leaves Dame Nature to bring 

 out the colour. 



But this is not the only way in which the winter 

 aconite is employed in great gardens. One of the most 

 pleasing of many good features in the spring gardening at 

 Belvoir Castle consists in the management of grassy slopes 

 that occur, as it were casually, in connection with the 

 walks. These slopes are planted with snowdrops, crocuses, 

 winter aconites, and other flowers that mingle unobtru- 

 sively and naturally with the grass, and their flowers are 



