SETTING OUT BULBS 221 



not everything. I like you just as well as if you 

 were so big you could not get in my greenhouse. I 

 would not greatly admire an anemone that was six 

 inches across. 



"We gardeners sometimes make a flower more 

 beautiful, but sometimes we change it until the 

 liebe Gott himself would hardly know which flower 

 it was meant for. The double snowdrop ! That is a 

 wickedness. The little snowdrop is a lovely shape, 

 and more petals put inside the little bell do not 

 make it prettier. Double violets ! That is another 

 iniquity ! " 



"But they are very sweet, and they come in a 

 lovely box," protested Mary, "a great bunch of 

 them tied with violet ribbon ; sometimes it 's a cord 

 that is violet, too, with tassels on the end." 



"A cord with tassels and a lovely box ! " groaned 

 Mr. Trommel. "I thought you were a gardener, 

 Liebchen, and you talk like a a young lady. Is the 

 dear flower better for being made into a purple 

 rosette?" he demanded. "Are the flowers happy in 

 being taken away from their homes and packed to- 

 gether in a bouquet that is like a purple cauliflower, 

 and worn by a foolish woman who is chiefly pleased 

 in knowing how much they cost ? " 



