May 10, 1894. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND' COTTAGE GARDENER. 351 > 
experience in these islands, and this was another reason that made 
me doubt whether the corms of this or the preceding sections could 
be hardy there, and if Lemoine had asserted it I should have been 
very hopeful that we might have found them to be so in most parts 
of our islands. 
Of course there would be differences of opinion as to the 
relative duty of the flowers of these sections, and of those of 
Gandavensis. To my own mind they stand on a much lower level 
than the more recent flowers of that section. I hardly agree with 
Mr. Brotherston, that the earlier varieties raised by Lemoine are 
more beautiful than the later sorts ; but this is, of course, a matter 
of opinion, and when they approach so closely to the flowers of the 
Gandavensis section I should prefer the latter, and certainly those 
that in any way lose the grand characteristic of the deep large spot 
lose one of their chief beauties. This, then, is the conclusion of 
the whole matter. Where plants for decorative purposes are 
required, and where the necessary protection and care can be given 
to them in winter, these varieties may be safely recommended ; but 
let no one trust to the conjectures or unsupported statements of 
those who call theirs hardy.—D., Deal. 
OUR VILLAGE ON MAY DAY. 
Will you leave your musty old papers and the din and 
turmoil of Fleet Street, and come with me, Mr. Editor, for a May 
day ramble in our northern village ? We will enter the park at 
the eastern extremity. Do you miss the rookery ? Yes, last year 
when Ash was so dear, it was cut down, but the birds soon found a 
new home, just across the grass to the belt of woodland adjoining 
the pleasure grounds. Some of the birds, full of dignity and 
importance, went further afield, and have made a new home in 
the shadow of the church chancel. They possibly know they are 
on sacred ground, and their only foe is a stormy night like the 
one last February which laid so many giants low. 
Do you note the charming green of our trees, unsoiled as yet by 
dust, uncut by sharp winds ? The grass, too, more now than the 
whole of last year’s crop. See the fantastic chimneys of the old 
Hall, the pretty quaint house, empty now, alas ! The old garden 
wall with archways cut through it giving glimpses of rich promise 
of fruit and vegetables beyond. A few weeks ago your heart 
would have “danced with the Daffodil” from the tiny golden 
jewel. Narcissus nanus, which glowed on the old herbaceous border 
to “Her Majesty” and her imperial brother “The Emperor.” 
Where do you find such beauty as in these old world gardens— 
gardens tended for decades by careful skilful hands ? Turn to the 
old church close by, old trees, old graves, old monuments ; the 
border round the church set out like a miniature garden, and all 
over, above, and around the graves the sweet Violet has found 
itself a home. The school is close here. A new device for 
interesting the children in the growth of their gardens and the 
fields—a case of thirty small tubes belonging to thirty small folk, 
and kept filled with fresh flowers. In one there was the other 
day a bell shaped flower almost black. There is an arrangement 
under the tubes for a name card. This is the nursery for our 
young rustics, under a bright clever master full of sympathy and 
love. Do you wonder that our children do well, and are a credit 
to themselves and their village ? 
Let us take this turn ; it will lead down past such a show of 
Lilac, both white and purple. Did you ever smell anything so 
delicious ? See, there are Chestnuts and Laburnums, only waiting 
for a little more sunshine. Do not you think with me, he is a wise 
man who erects his own memorial in his lifetime ? I do not think 
cold stone is the best or most lasting. In the vicarage garden you 
see evergreen traces of a kindly but irascible vicar, who passed 
away many years ago. Possibly for health the place is too much 
grown up ; but where w:ill you begin ? You cannot take that 
Spanish Oak half across the lawn. Those purple Beeches block 
some windows ; but you cry, “ Oh ! spare them.” What of the 
Chestnuts, and hosts of flowering trees—charming now, and still 
more so in the glowing autumn? You say, “Let them be. I 
cannot destroy such beauty.” We have no hills here, only a placid 
alow-flowing river and woodlands. Ah ! yes ; that will compare 
well with Sherwood or other historic growths. Here alone I guess 
will you find 500 acres of Lilies—yes, Lilies of the Valley, Their 
noble owner gives delight to thousands by sharing his treasures 
with them. Look at the hosts of other wild flowers—blue, white, 
pink, yellow ; every sort, and all so full of life, 
Just here turn up the old road, work of the Romans ; in 
this hollow later on you find the Wood Aven, which gleams like 
burnished gold in that damp bottom ? Gather it, make a noble 
posy of Marsh Marigold, mix with them a few Bluebells, and then 
tell me if the colouring is not almost of the gorgeous East. Just 
a hint here ; nothing lights up a dark entrance hall like a posy of 
this kind. Will you walk through our well kept woods, where 
“Old Jack” has reigned supreme these many years? I am 
going to show you something you will like. Shall I astonish you ? 
Were you out last evening, just in the gloaming ? Did you see 
an apparition— a dense white moving mass of wings ? Shrill cries, 
a sudden sweeping down on the grass, a sudden rising ; then all 
still, all quiet. Did you ask a lab^onrer passing what these birds 
were? Did he answer, “Black ’eads fra’ gull ponds?” Were 
you any wiser ? Gulls here, so far from the sea ! Yes ; come, see. 
Quietly, now over this hill. There is a gleam of water, the flash of 
a million wings, the cry of parent birds fearful lest you disturb 
their homes by the reedy bank. Tread carefully, nests are around 
you everywhere—some callow broods just hatched, some ready for 
the water, many birds sitting, but such a scene of life and activity 
as you could hardly imagine, and all in the heart of the woods. 
Years ago a pcir of birds made their home here ; the fostering cage 
afforded they have repaid a thousand times. Can you tell me 
how much we owe these creatures ? See them swarming at every 
plough tail, after every harrow, and look what a feast they have 
after the rain has brought out the insects and worms. They come 
to us early in March when the Ash buds are black ; they leave us 
for the sea when our harvest is ripening. 
The keeper would like you just to peep at his pheasant hatching. 
See all these old “ barndoors,” each with at least seventeen precious 
eggs. Here is work present and future, and barring accidents and 
disease will not there be a show when our Squire has his “ big 
shoot ” at Christmas time ? This is an agricultural parish ; we 
fancy we do things pretty well. Have not our Shire horses made 
the greatest ave.age at our sale on record? Here are brewers 
who believe in our Barleys, and of late we have tried our hajid 
at “Taties,” and there was a whisper of Her Majesty in con¬ 
nection with a long price in your huge City this spring, and our 
little Scotch woman Jeannie Deans with a Lincolnshire flavour 
has travelled to many parts of England this spring in the form 
of “seed.” 
Just slip up through “ Dolly Platts” behind the old “grove.” 
Here is Fishpond Close—in new hands, surely, or there would not 
be these ridges, strongly suggestive of Ireland. “Why, old S , you 
have no business here in this cold wind, and rheumatism so bad.” 
“ Eh, Missus, I wor forced to come out and see if them Bruces had 
begun to show a bit, I’se fair stalled of settin b’d fireside. I shall 
be seventy-four next week, and have worked all my time man and 
boy in this parish, and last few years I’ve set and soiled a sight of 
Taties. Marster is a strange man for new soarts, and I think he’s 
in the right of it.” Good-bye, old fellow ! It is such as you 
who are the backbone of Old England ; men who do with pride 
a fair day’s work for a fair day’s wage ; men who know every 
inch of the ground, and what it will best produce on the farms 
on which they work, and who watch with deep interest any new 
departure which is started with the hope of meeting the times.’ 
Must you think of the station ? Stay, what is there behind’ 
this Yew hedge ? A small, trim garden, and, by the Prophet^’ 
row upon row of labelled Rose trees ! Just in the centre—is that 
Weeping Willow? No, it cannot be; yet it is—a white Cluster 
Rose budded on a standard Briar ; perhaps a greater sonree’. of 
pleasure to its owner than all its high-bred rivals from Paul’s and 
Rivers’, We must go in here, if just for a minute^ Wel^ tiines 
are hard, and farming pays badly ; still we plod on. Practice with' 
Science, and plenty of loving labour. Next time you come' this- 
way spare us more time, and we will have out the old horse,-and 
go and criticise our neighbours. Well, if you must go, gOod-Hye'; 
Come again soon, and see what the “promise of Ma3^”'h'a'^' 
brought, 
P.S.—My children tell me old Billy Havercroft has a Rose out, 
and that there is a bit of full-blown May in the low pasture.-^r. 
May Day. ' 'i ' ' 
[We have been, seen, and found all true; and'the best of all 
the narrator not crushed by “ depression,”] ' . 
_■ *■' . V- 
. • i' 
DAMSON CULTURE. ‘ 
The question of fruit culture for profit is one which is being 99??*' 
tinually brought before our notice as a means by which tenant farmers 
and others can increase their incomes without going to a great exp^ense 
in outlay. In this district of North Staffordshire Damsons are larg^y 
grown, and in an average season prove a great help towards paying tpe 
rent of the tenant farmer and small holder, as they appear to thrivp aud 
do well with little or no cultivation after the trees are planted. Durin.^ 
the last few weeks the hillsides have been very gay with blossom,|the 
pure whiteness of the thickly bloomed trees standing out against the 
fresh green of the bursting hedgerows and surrounding vegetation. 
The trees are chiefly seedlings, which spring up of their own accbrd 
in the hedgerows. They are then planted in rowB- in the -fields and 
