iS THE ROLL OF THE SEASONS 



ho\v to uncover their special dainties, such as " wood- 

 anemone seakale " and bluebell bulbs, and make 

 nourishing and purifying spring salads of them. 

 Feast how they may, yet the milky way of anemone 

 blossom will not seem to have one vacancy when 

 April comes. 



The conditions that make for early blossom are not 

 all typified in wind-breaks of trees and sheltering 

 dips in the ground. Even a foot-deep carpet of dead 

 leaves will not act as a forcing-bed if it lies on a 

 water-logged soil. A bed of leaves and leaf mould, 

 with sharp drainage beneath, will give us early 

 primroses, even despite the east wind. The cold rain 

 goes easily down, and then, from the warm depths, 

 water reascends in minute aerated fragments by 

 capillary attraction. Leaf-mould upon Tunbridge 

 Wells sand seems to be the most favourable conjunc- 

 tion in this country, and it is more to account for the 

 out-of-season flowers of Sussex than the degree of 

 south latitude that separates it from Middlesex. 

 The sunny hour that comes now and then in a long 

 stretch of rain finds the well-drained root ready to 

 respond almost at a moment's warning. A little of 

 the starch is stirred and converted towards cellulose. 

 If rain or cold checks its continuance, it cannot re- 

 voke it. The bulb is one notch ahead of its brother 

 in the clay and ready to take another notch at the 

 first opportunity, however short. It is thus that, the 

 day after the snow has gone, a few hour's sun can 

 paint a mountain-side with wide-open crocus, solda- 

 nelle, and gentian. 



The furrows in the ploughed field are appreciably 

 better sheltered than the tops of the " lands." But it 



