ROOF AND BACK- YARD GARDENS 27 



Crocuses which one could find anywhere, mostly purple, 

 bright mauve, pure white, and a few yellow. These were 

 put in last autumn, and have certainly done splendidly, 

 in spite of smuts and smoke. The only grievous thing 

 about them is that, when the flowers are over, the bulbs 

 will have to be pulled up and thrown away, as we have 

 found that one season is quite enough for them ; they 

 would not flower again if left in for another year." 



In gardens such as this bulbs do better than anything 

 else ; they give back the treasure that was stored up by 

 them when living in the air and sunshine. A little green- 

 house between the wall and rock garden is full of ferns. 

 Geraniums will not grow, but Cyclamen and Palms are 

 well content, and Azaleas manage to bloom for one year 

 — not more, as there is not enough sun to ripen the new 

 wood. One fair-sized tree stands in the middle of the 

 plot, a Lime ; not a good town tree, because its foliage 

 fades and falls so soon. This one is to come down and 

 make room for an apple-tree. 



The annals of another City garden are worth record- 

 ing because so instructive. They were confided to the 

 sympathetic ears of the editor of The Garden under 

 the title of " Struggles in Smoke." Every reader sym- 

 pathized. This garden, too, lay in the shadow of a 

 cathedral, but in the north of England. 



" Everything we touched was black, and how strong it 

 all smelt of smoke and the mingled fumes of fried fish and 

 burnt shoe-leather from the small shops that backed on to 

 it ! The garden was at the very edge of a wind-swept 

 hill, the ground falling away so suddenly below it that 

 the tops of the chimneys of the City beneath were just 

 at the proper level to pour their smoke right into it. 

 When the wind blew from the south, the thick clouds 

 from the foundry and factory chimneys made it impossible 

 to see across the garden. Then we had to set to work." 



Nothing teaches so well as an object-lesson. Let us 



