52 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



times by a colony of badgers, and no sooner was the light let into these 

 galleries than up came a thick crop of raspberry seedlings, as far in as 

 the light could penetrate. It appeared evident that the badgers (like 

 bears) had been keen on fruit, and had made their dessert off wild rasp- 

 berries, and that the eating and digestion of the fruit had not prevented 

 the seeds from germinating (as is the case nowadays with the seeds of 

 Berber is Darwinii, which the birds swallow, and then distribute all over 

 the place). There were no signs of any wild raspberries about here at 

 that time, but the sight of them encouraged me greatly, and I thought 

 it a good omen, and that where wild rasps (as we call them) once grew 

 tame rasps could be made to grow, and my expectations in this respect 

 have been fully justified. I think I may venture to say that my garden, 

 which took me three or four years to make, has most thoroughly rewarded 

 me for all the trouble and expense incurred. 



In good years (as many of my friends can testify) I grow Bon 

 Chretien pears on standards as good as could be bought in Covent 

 Garden Market, and, curiously, they were always better off the standards 

 than off the walls ; but, alas ! last year (which was the very worst year 

 I had experienced since my garden was made) they were (as my gardener 

 expressed it) not equal to a good Swede turnip. I have had excellent 

 Doyenne du Cornice pears and Cox's orange pippin apples on my walls, 

 and masses of plums of all sorts both on the walls and on standards, 

 and there is one thing I may mention, which I hardly suppose even my 

 friends in the south can boast of — viz., that I have never yet, in over 

 forty years, failed to have a full crop of apples, and, I might almost add, 

 pears and plums as well, though the quality varies a good deal ; but 

 really our difficulty here is that we have not force sufficient to get them 

 thinned, so thickly do they set ; and all this must, I suppose, be credited 

 to our good Gulf Stream. 



And now I will turn to the flowers, and I think almost anything 

 that will grow in Britain will grow with me. I was once in a garden 

 in about the warmest corner of the Isle of Wight, in June, and walking 

 round with my hostess, we came upon the gardener carrying big plants of 

 Agapanthus in tubs from under glass to be placed out of doors. His 

 remark as we passed him was, " I think, my lady, we may venture them 

 out now " ; and I could not refrain from answering the old man back, 

 " If so, then I do not think much of your climate, for in the far North 

 of Scotland we never house them, nor even protect them in winter." I 

 have had great clumps of Agapanthus in the open for thirty years and 

 more, and the white, as well as the blue, flowers magnificently every year. 



Ixias are as hardy a perennial here as daffodils ; Crocosmia imperialis 

 nms about my shrubbery borders and comes up with its glorious orange 

 blooms in October in all kinds of unexpected places, just like twitch 

 grass ; Alstroemeria psittacina, Sparaxis pulchcrrima, Scilla peruviana, 

 Crinum capense, the Antholizas, and several Watsonias (including even 

 the lovely white Watso?iia Ardernei) are quite hardy, and Habranthus 

 pratensis also blooms every year ; and as to lilies, I have had Lilium 

 (jiganteum 10 feet high and with nineteen blooms on it. 



We never lift our scarlet lobelias, nor our blue Salvia patens (except 

 when shifting them), and the dahlias are often quite happy left out all 



