60 THE WILD GARDEN. 
mould it grows around here in the utmost profusion. In 
one place by the side of a wood is a sort of ditch, which is 
filled with water in winter but dry in summer, and wherein 
is collected a mass of leaf-soil. Here the Erythronium runs 
riot, and forms the densest kind of matted sod, all bespeckled 
with yellow blossoms before a bush or tree has spread a leaf. 
Then blackberry bushes get a growing and sprawling every- 
where, the trees expand their leafy shade, and Grass and 
weeds grow up and cover the surface of the earth. But all 
too late for evil, the Adder’s-tongue’s mission for a year is 
ended; it has blossomed, matured, and retired. The next 
densest mass I know of is in a low piece of cleared timber 
land, where, besides the profusion in the hollow, the carpet 
extends, thinner as it ascends, for many yards up the slope of 
the hill. As garden plants they are at home anywhere, under- 
neath bushes, or in any out of-the-way corner, merely praying 
to be let alone. But what I desire to urge is their naturalisa- 
ation in your rich woodlands, where Anemones and Primroses, 
Buttercups and Violets, grow up and flower together.” 
I cannot better conclude this chapter than by showing one 
of the most interesting aspects of vegetation I have ever seen.’ 
It was in an ordinary sbrubbery, forming a belt round a 
botanic garden. In the inner parts, hidden from the walk 
probably from want of labour, the digging had not been carried 
out for some years. Some roots of the common Myrrh 
(Myrrhis odorata), thrown out of the garden in digging, had 
rooted by accident and spread into a little colony. The plant 
grows freely in any soil. Among the graceful tufts of Myrrh 
were tall white Harebells, and the effect of these, standing 
- 
1 See illustration on p. 51. 
