VI 
WINTER 
177 
were frosted, and in the morning I found my 
treasure with shrivelled, limp - looking buds, 
which never opened. I can remember my 
grief still. But the lesson was learnt, never 
to be forgotten. I recollect my successes too ; 
and conspicuous among them I recall the two 
bulbs of the “ Emperor” daffodil that had been 
given to me, which reared their proud golden 
heads and brightened my room during the last 
days of January. 
Winter is a good time for reading, and some 
of the hours you devote to it during the 
Christmas holidays might be given up to books 
about gardens and flowers. You would be 
adding something to your store of knowledge 
which would be sure to come in useful in the 
spring when work out of doors began again. 
You could read about beautiful gardens and 
the flowers in them, and stories about bird and 
insect life, or it would add very much to the 
appreciation of a garden to have even a slight 
knowledge of botany. If you studied it just a 
little during the winter months, you could then 
understand some of the shapes and forms of 
flowers and leaves, and realise much better 
how they grow and what they require to make 
them flourish. Much of this can be learned by 
observation, but reading or teaching would 
direct your eyes, and make them notice many 
