THE WHITE ROCKERY 95 



always crying. And half-hardy bulbs also dislike it. 

 They are not accustomed to her low spirits in 

 Northern climes. A tropical torrent they know 

 let her weep and be done with it but this incessant 

 lachrymation wears them down, and wears them out. 

 They yearn to go home, and, in the gardener's sense, 

 a great many of them do so. If Nature would only 

 let me arrange the watering and look after the sun 

 herself, we might get some famous results ; but she 

 will do it all. 



Now concerning bulbs, when such things cost 

 many shillings, my experiments are not conducted 

 on a scale to satisfy the scientific mind ; but thanks 

 to the Dutch, very few fine plants cost much money 

 nowadays, and I feel that Nature may drown my 

 garden annually, so long as she abstains from 

 drowning Holland. 



Let us take by far the best catalogue that I know 

 for these things and run through it. 



Of hyacinths nothing more need be said, and of tulips 

 but little. Concerning the latter, however, I must give 

 you an idea. Should you want a lovely bed of tulips 

 by the end of February, it can be done. The secret 

 is for once in a way to get your bulbs from the South 

 of France, instead of Holland. On the Riviera, tulips 

 are ripe and ready for market by the end of May. I 

 shook hardened gardeners this year with a bed of a 

 hundred T. praecox, var. Dammanni, ablaze on the 

 3rd of March. For thirty francs this wonder may 

 be performed, given a reasonable winter. The secret 

 is to have your bulbs planted by the end of June ; 



