THE GARDEN-ROOM 37 



upon some lonely, desolate waste by night ; or else, 

 perhaps, poison him in his drink. He comes from 

 Buenos Ayres, and ought not to have been moved 

 from there. 



How different is the conduct of dioscorea japonica. 

 This great tuber lies deep and snug under the central 

 pillar of the garden-room. From here it annually 

 sends up a sprightly bine, which leaps aloft and 

 tumbles and twines about with pretty heart-shaped 

 leaves, like bryony. A similar trifling inflorescence it 

 also possesses. The foliage takes a fine pure yellow 

 tone in October, and sprays of it can then be cut 

 to accompany your star asters. Apios tuberosa does 

 not appeal to me. He is, however, fairly regular in 

 his habits, and, though a subterranean wanderer, com- 

 paratively steady. Thladiantha dubia, on the contrary, 

 possesses some sense of humour, and plays the wildest 

 pranks underground. I have a bachelor plant 

 consequently no fruit occurs. He first came up from 

 where I put him, and hung out his handsome leaves 

 and golden bells ; he rejoiced me and vanished. But 

 next year, when I was prepared to welcome him in 

 the old spot, he did not appear. Presently, however, 

 I found him ramping riotously yards away from his 

 former home. I have given up trying to catch him, 

 and let him go where he likes, merely decapitating him 

 when he thrusts forth a downy nose in April at some 

 impossible place. The difficulty, of course, is to 

 " locate " him, as the Americans say. You may grub 

 about for yards before you find the tubers that will 

 give next year's exhibition. " Dubia " is an excellent 



