THE AUTUMN WORK 
WS 
some leaf-mould from the woods had been mixed. 
After it had thus been made ready, I helped Joseph 
set out the pips, as the roots are called. I shall 
have an especial love for this bed of flowers, as I 
have for those of the roses and heliotrope. It is 
too bad that we shall have to wait until May to see 
them in bloom. 
Without telling me a thing about it, Joseph has 
kept a piece of news in his head about lilies-of-the^ 
valley. 
^‘They are wild flowers,” he said casually, as we , 
were planting them. 
I thought he must be talking about something 
else. 
“Oh, I do not mean that we shall ever find them 
growing wild, near here,” he explained, “but in 
parts of the southern mountains of the United 
States they are as much wild flowers as rhododen- 
drons and azaleas are wild shrubs. They spread 
themselves over the hillsides and fill the air with 
fragrance when they are in bloom.” 
I asked him how he had found this out. 
“One day, when Mr. Percy was reading a maga- 
zine article,” he answered, “lilies-of-the-valley were 
referred to as not being natives of this country. 
Mr. Percy then ran his finger over the text and said 
it was all a mistake, because he had seen them him- 
self growing wild in the higher Alleghanies.” 
“Let us hope they will grow here as if they were 
