50 OUR ROCK-GARDEN 



on record of its deleterious effects ; children, for 

 instance, have more than once been killed from 

 eating its leaves. The noble ruffs and petticoats 

 of our ancestors owed their stiffening to the starch 

 made from this plant, though it was, as Gerard 

 reminds us, "most hurtful for the hands of the 

 laundress that hath the handling of it, for it 

 choppeth, blistereth, and maketh the hands rough 

 and rugged, and withal smarting." Our edition 

 of Gerard, we see, is dated 1633. 



A rock-garden in which no primroses expanded 

 their delicate-looking blossoms in the genial Spring 

 sunshine is a well-nigh unthinkable state of things. 

 So keenly did we feel this that we have them flower- 

 ing in profusion, a friend sending us up out of 

 Sussex, from his woodlands a great hamper of 

 roots, which we promptly planted here, there, and 

 everywhere, in every available nook and cranny. 

 Beautiful as our garden is at various times of the 

 year, it is, perhaps, never more charming than 

 when these clustering flowers in their hundreds 

 are its leading feature. Primroses enjoy a strong 

 and clayey soil, and under lighter conditions 

 gradually wither out As a feeling has frequently 

 been expressed that the Beaconsfield memorial cult 1 



1 LORD BEACONSFIELD AND PRIMROSES. Mr. Arthur 

 Vernon sent the following letter to the South Bucks Free 

 Press : " Your last number contained some references to the 

 late Lord Beaconsfield, repeating the frequent assertion that 



