MAY 



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characteristics are always reminding us, especially in 

 some women, even when old, that they were once child- 

 ren. These leaves were formerly used as edgings to beds 

 in a very objectionable way ; but when grown in large 

 clumps, they are most useful for picking. When cut, they 

 go on growing in water, as Buttercups and Forget-me- 

 nots do, and mix very well with many flowers, especially 

 with Narcissus poeticus, any of the German Irises, and 

 the lovely white Scilla campanulata, a cheap bulb, of 

 which we can hardly have too many. There is a blue 

 and a pink kind, but the white is the most lovely ; and, in 

 my opinion, all three are better worth growing than the 

 usual Hyacinths, double or single. I think the people 

 who live in the country in spring would find it more 

 satisfactory to grow their greenhouse bulbs in large, open 

 pans, several together, and covered with some of the 

 mossy Saxifrages, than the usual two or three in a pot 

 that gardeners are so fond of. If the pan has no hole at 

 the bottom for drainage, you must put in lots of crocks, 

 and be careful not to over-water; but bulbs like their 

 roots moist. 



I made a curious experiment with the little double 

 Prunus. One moved last autumn, and one moved last 

 spring out of the nursery into a sunny, sheltered border, 

 are both covered with bloom, and lovely objects. 

 Another plant, which was left in a sunny border for a 

 year, has no bloom on it at all, though it is quite healthy. 

 This is one more proof of how much is to be done with 

 reserve gardens and moving in this light dry soil. Next 

 month I shall choose a wet day, and move them all 

 back again into the nursery. The white Dog-tooth 

 Violet and the various Fritillarias are very satisfactory 

 things. They like shade and a certain amount of moist- 

 ure, but it is not necessary for their cultivation; they 

 will grow anywhere. The common Saxifraga, London 



