100 FA2I1LIAR GASDEX FLOlTEItS. 



earth? "What they really want is protection. These 

 and many more sweet things are systematically destroyed 

 by the spade, for they die down and leave no mark that 

 the untaught eye can see. Then comes the sjsade, the 

 ground is dug, their bulbs are cast forth as rubbish, and 

 they are seen no more. This kind of destruction is always 

 in progress, and comes into full operation when a new 

 occupant enters an old garden, wherein for years, perhaps, 

 collections of choice things have been assiduously accumu- 

 lated. Beware of the spade in the garden of hardy plants. 

 Nine times in ten it has no business there. For every 

 hardy plant a suitable station should be prepared, unless 

 the natural soil is well adapted for it ; but that being 

 done, mere digging is akin to a crime, for it is likely to 

 make mincemeat of peony roots and the bulbs of lilies 

 and daffodils, and, generally speaking, oljliterates all the 

 beauties that are just sleeping to prepare themselves for 

 the jubilations of the spring. 



