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Notes from Garden and Field. By Charles Stuart, 

 M.D., Chirnside. 



As the winter passes into spring, and a start into growth 

 is made by early flowering plants and bulbs, it is remarkable 

 — among plant lovers — how the old interest in the progress 

 of vegetation is revived. 



Previous to Christmas 1899, a certain amount of frost and 

 snow had been the rule, the weather being very unsettled. 

 In the fresh intervals, it was curious to remark the start 

 into growth made by bulbs of the Narcissus family in making 

 the ground crack, in the lines in which they were planted, 

 and presently to see the green leaves peeping through the 

 ground. No plant stands the frost better than the Daffodil, 

 while dry sunny weather is its greatest enemy. To persons 

 who consider a wild garden with endless varieties of plants, 

 before formal bedding, it is possible to have a succession 

 of flowering subjects in the open during every month of 

 the year. 



The winter of 1898-9 was a very fresh one, and there 

 was a succession of Crocuses [Croci) from September till 

 Christmas, when the lovely Crocus imperati was in flower 

 during several weeks, and on New Year's Day (1899) was 

 in perfection. This season, with more frost in the ground, 

 it did not display its butf striped exterior, with delicate lilac 

 interior, till the 16th January 1900. Crocus speciosus is the 

 first of the family which flDvvers, in autumn; and a bed of 

 it, of some years stan ling, with brilliant blue colour — the 

 stamina bright scarlet — when the sun is shining, is a sight 

 no one who has seen it will forget. 



Hellehorus Tnaximus, the large Christmas rose, was in fine 

 flower from November till Christmas, on which day a 

 bouquet of it, gathered from among suow and ice, revived 

 on being placed in water, and furnished a seasonable posy. 

 The Continental Hj'brid varieties succeed this grand plant, 

 and in fresh weather are not to be despised for cutting for 

 the house. To preserve them indoors, split the stems into 

 four for two or three inches up, and place them in a bowl 

 of tepid water, floating flosvers and foliage on their backs, 

 p 



