GARDENING BY MYSELF. g^ 



Sow certain things for succession, such as 

 alyssum and mignonnette ; and if you can 

 spare a bit of reserve ground, sow there 

 small patches of many annuals, ready for 

 emergencies. Keep back, also, a part of 

 the little seedlings in boxes, for awhile, to 

 replant in the borders ; for your flowers 

 will have disasters and enemies and disap- 

 pointments, like the rest of the world. The 

 shower that seemed certain to come, may 

 go round ; and the cool, cloudy day may 

 turn hot and bright, withering the young 

 plants to a very dangerous degree of faint- 

 ness. Or, with this danger past, others may 

 start up unexpectedly. Perhaps some wan- 

 dering rabbit, surveying the world by moon- 

 hght, will be smitten with a desire to taste 

 your one Japanese chrysanthemum, and 

 will then and there cut it down to the 

 ground, beyond hope of recovery — as hap- 

 pened to mine the other night. Perhaps 

 some other night-vvalker, in whom the love 

 of the beautiful has not been quite killed 

 along with his moral sense, will covet and 



