Plant-Life in London Squares 73 



sunshine before the afternoon. Thus, if you visit the garden 

 in the late afternoon, you may easily find large tracts basking 

 in sunlight, but yet quite daisyless. Look up at the trees 

 and see how their shadows would be likely to have fallen in 

 the morning; or, still better, get up. in the morning and 

 observe the facts with exactitude. 



A few other points in connection with the Daisy may be 

 worthy of observation. At what hour do its flowers open ? 

 Is the time definitely in connection with the exposure, or 

 otherwise, to the early sun ? Do the old and young flowers 

 open at the same time ? At what hour do the flowers shut ? 

 How many days does each flower last ? What does a Daisy 

 in seed look like ? We will wager a good sum that not one 

 in ten of our readers has ever seen a Daisy flower in seed, 

 whereas all have seen Dandelions. 



Lupins losing their Heads and dropping their Flowers. 



Many of the plants which will flower fairly well in our 

 London gardens are yet quite unable to produce seed. In 

 connection with this inability some very interesting conditions 

 are now to be observed in the Lupin. 



Many of its flower stems now stand quite naked, and what 

 is more, with one, two, or even several inches cut off from 

 their tops. Yet the flower-spike of the lupin terminates, as 

 everyone knows, in a tapering and very gracefully curving 

 series of buds. Its bare truncated stems look exactly as it 

 the gardener had been cutting them short, in, presumably, the 

 hope that they would flower better on the lower part. It is 

 possible, indeed, that we have a hint as to what he might 

 wisely have done, but the fact is, that it is Nature's own 

 work. The strength of the plant was over-taxed. It could 

 no longer procure sap enough to supply all its buds, and 

 so the topmost perished. This death of the head of the 

 stem occurred whilst the flowers on the lower part were in 

 full vigour, and it was, in a certain sense, for their benefit. 

 Subsequently, however, it was found that the sacrifice availed 



