In the Carden I am delighted this week by a
display of the little bulb plant, Sparaqs. 1 set the bulbs in mid-winter, at the same time as I put in a new consignment-of tulips, and I had begun to accept this experiment as a failure, for the newcomer was a reluctant addition to the beds round the ornamental pond. But suddenly, with the first break of real summer sunshine, the flowers have appeared in profusion. They are most decorative, with their six long petals that make a trumpet-shaped bloom that closes at night. The colours are various—cream, mauve, brick-rcd- but all have yellow centres. Bees are working in the cotoneaster bushes so eagerly that the whole plants appear to be in movement. From several points in the garden 1 can hear the bushes humming like dynamos. A pair of bull-finches are interested also. They have been haunting the top terrace, where several cotoneasters form a flat edging, and I have been able to examine them at close quarters, remarking what fierce little painted warriors they arc, harsh red and black with a streak of white and that grim parrot-be.,k.. A more utilitarian.observation is that while flea-beetle has infested the cabbage-plants recently set out,, two rows planted between broad beans are untouched by this pest. Can this be due to the neighbourhood of the beans 7
RICHARD CHURCH.
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