removed until April, and the evergreens not until I 

 find the noses are above ground. 



As you've probably often heard, it is not the freez- 

 ing which kills things but the thawing, so all winter 

 covering and mulching is for the purpose of protec- 

 tion from the sun, not the snow and ice. 



Other beautiful narcissi are the double Poet's, 

 alba plena odorata; orange Phoenix, double white and 

 orange; Barri Maurice Vilmorin, cream white with 

 red cup ; and Burbidgii Falstaff, white with lemon 

 yellow cup. 



The Emperor daffodil. Von Sion and Welsh daffo- 

 dil (the Incomparabilis Sir Watkins) are the best we 

 have grown. Of the smaller bulbs, Chionodoxa gi- 

 gantea and Scilla campanulata carulea furnish us 

 with light and dark tones of blue. The Scilla Si- 

 birica (sky-blue) blooms at the same time as that 

 lovely forerunner of the spring, the snowdrop. 



Some hoar March morning we will be awakened 

 by the wee groping chirp of a robin threading the 

 darkness; though the thermometer may have regis- 

 tered only twenty degrees above zero the day before, 

 all material proofs of winter are forgotten. It had 

 not occurred to us the day before to search for a 

 flower in the hostile out-of-doors, but to-day, with 



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