THE OPPORTUNITIES OF THE YEAR 197 



little groups of six or seven bulbs. I cannot tell 

 why, but I have noticed that snowdrops dotted 

 singly two or three inches apart do not multiply 

 quickly by offsets, while small clumps soon grow 

 into large ones, ready for dividing again as occa- 

 sion requires. 



As with snowdrops, so with many of our best 

 spring flowers, they should be grown in masses ; 

 and it seems a good rule to follow, if the ideal 

 place or space is not at hand, or, at any rate, 

 a fair substitute for that ideal, to do without the 

 special plant we covet, and to choose some other 

 that will fill the niche we have to offer with satis- 

 faction to itself and all concerned. After all, it 

 will not involve much self-denial, for there are so 

 many not less beautiful which may " happen." 



No doubt we all hold with Bacon that " in the 

 royal ordering of gardens, there ought to be gar- 

 dens for all the months of the year " ; but that 

 would be royal gardening indeed. Manor-house 

 pleasaunces of the olden days had many nooks 

 and corners fenced in with yew or hornbeam, and 

 sometimes " my ladye's garden " was surrounded 

 by massive walls of brick or stone and barred 

 from ruder entrance by a closed gateway. But 

 the bedding-out system, amongst other enormities, 

 contrived to do away with much of the taste for 

 that secluded charm to which, happily, we are 

 now reverting. Not that space is to be decried, 

 nor breadth of level lawns, with ample room for 

 trees to grow and spread without restriction into 

 their own beautiful and characteristic forms. But 

 there is nothing more delightful than to wander 



