86 Wild Botanical Garden. CHAP. V.] 
employ him, and to improve him in his business. , Edward 
agreed to give the master, for his trouble, a percentage of 
his earnings, besides his pupil- money, and a share of the 
fire and light. ’ 
Edward’s work at this place was mostly of the lighter 
and smaller sort. His employer was of a much kindlier 
nature than the last, and he got on very well with him. 
Edward was also, in a measure, his own master. He could 
still look after his birdnesting. That was his strongest 
attraction out-of-doors. He did not rob the birds of their 
eggs. His principal pleasure was to search for their nests, 
and to visit them from time to time. When the eggs were 
hatched, and the little birds were grown and ready to fly, 
he would take one or two, if they were singing-birds, and 
rear them for himself, or for other bird-fanciers. 
It was about this time that Edward began what he called 
his Wild Botanical Garden. His parents had left the 
Green, and removed to another quarter of the town. Be- 
hind the house, and behind the adjoining houses, was a 
piece of waste ground about ten feet wide. It was covered 
with stones, bits of bricks, and broken tiles. Edward re- 
moved these from the ground, and put them in a corner by 
themselves, covering them with earth. He dug over the 
ground, manured it, and turned it over again. Then he di- 
vided the space into compartments for the reception of 
plants and flowers. These were brought from the fields, 
the woods, and the banks adjoining the Dee and the Don. 
He watered and tended them daily; but, alas! they would 
uot flourish as they had done on their native soil. He re- 
newed them again and again. The rasp, the wild straw- 
berry, the fox-glove—or dead men’s bells, as it is there 
called —the hemlock, some of the ferns, and many of the 
grasses, grew pretty well; but the prettiest and most deli- 
cate field flowers died away one by one. 
His mother, who delighted in flowers, advised him to 
turn the ground into an ordinary garden. Now, although 
