1 6 The Wild Garden 



only gladdened the heart of the rare wanderer on 

 the high mountain lawns and copses, in May when 

 the earth children laugh" in multitudes on their 

 mother's breast. 



All planting in the grass should be in natural 

 groups or prettily fringed colonies, growing to and 

 fro as they like after planting. Lessons in this 

 grouping are to be had in woods, copses, heaths, 

 and meadows, by those who look about them as 

 they go. At first many will find it difficult to get 

 out of formal masses, but that may be got over by 

 studying natural groupings of wild flowers. Once 

 established, the plants soon begin to group them- 

 selves in pretty ways. 



As further showing what may be done with the hardy 

 bulbs, not only outside the flower-garden but even 

 in what forms part of the farm, I print here a paper 

 read by me before the Royal Horticultural Society 

 in 1891. 



Early Flowering Bulbs in Meadow Grass. 



Having during the past five years planted several 

 hundred thousand bulbs and roots in meadow grass, the 

 results may, perhaps, be suggestive to others. An 

 advantage of this method is the delightfully artistic 

 arrangements of which it permits. It is also a deliver- 

 ance of flower-beds from the poor thing known as 

 spring bedding. This system of ' bedding,' which began 



