(os FAMILIAR GARDEN FLOWERS. 
come before the swallow dares, are outdone in their haste 
to scatter gold upon the ground to pay for the reckless 
banqueting that is about to begin. In its own grassy 
nooks of sunny Italy it flowers at Christmas, but in this 
dull clime it does not often dare to lift up its head until 
the month of March, and even later, if the winter has 
been of the cruel kind that people, as if in contempt of 
the taste of their ancestors, cruelly describe as “ old- 
fashioned.” ‘The humble gardener, as remarked above, 
scarcely knows this plant, although it is one of the cheapest, 
and will grow anywhere. But the gardener who has to 
keep a great parterre at all times gay has long since dis- 
covered its value, and therefore he plants hundreds or 
thousands, as the case may be, to produce masses of golden 
Howers, according to the requirements of his complicated 
designs in colour. It will not be expected that in this 
place there should appear a disquisition on the bedding 
system, but it is proper to note that in “spring bedding” 
the principal elements are such homely flowers as daisies, 
polyanthuses, forget-me-nots, primroses, and pansies ; and 
where lines or blocks of soft yellow are required, the artist 
dips his pencil into Hrauthis hyemalis, oy, in other words, 
he plants the little herb, and leaves Dame Nature to bring 
out the colour. 
But this is not the only way in which the winter 
aconite is employed in great gardens. One of the most 
pleasing of many good features in the spring gardening at 
Belvoir Castle consists in the management of grassy slopes 
that occur, as it were casually, in connection with the 
walks. These slopes are planted with snowdrops, crocuses, 
winter aconites, and other flowers that mingle unobtru- 
sively and naturally with the grass, and their flowers are 
