26 MY GARDEN 



of nourishment. \My alstromerias a bed of them 

 five yards long and one broad are well established 

 and wonderful to see in summer. These so far have 

 escaped. I will say of my gardener that he is a 

 sportsman. He felt that it would be wicked folly 

 to attack these fine things. He came to them after 

 a great victory over calystegia pubescens. Alstro- 

 meria met him in the hour of success, and he spared 

 it. I suspected that calystegia was merely scotched 

 and not killed ; but the issue proved that hydra 

 actually slain. I had secreted a few tentacles after 

 the battle was over, however, and the flower is still 

 with me. 



