SEPTEMBER DAYS 
239 
man says that these probably will be well sprouted 
before frost comes, and therefore ready to bloom 
at least three weeks sooner than we had them this 
season.” 
“Three weeks is nearly a month,” I reminded 
him, wondering then if Joseph had found a way to 
cause these July flowers to open in June, 
In our garden at this moment the larkspurs were 
having a second blooming, rather scattered and in- 
different in comparison with the showing they had 
made much earlier. The phloxes were still gay, 
and a few of the monthly roses of the fan were as 
lovely as ever. Mignonette still bloomed, delight- 
ing in its cool, shady place, while here and there a 
rose-mallow was to be seen. The heliotrope-bed 
held many flowers. Before we owned a garden I 
had thought this a delicate flower, living mostly in 
conservatories. It now seems to me almost as 
hardy for beds and borders as crimson geraniums. 
So far, the asters in our garden have not suc- 
cumbed to the horrid creatures that eat their roots ; 
perhaps because Joseph has been so vigilant with 
wood ashes. The cosmos look as though they 
cared not a bit that the season is waning. Yet, 
when we come directly from Miss Wiseman’s, our 
triangle has a meagre look. This is because it is 
dahlia month in her garden, and Miss Wiseman 
herself is a specialist in these flowers. They are 
blooming now in such numbers that no other flow- 
ers except the great, toppling heads of white hy^ 
