ws to perfection in the garden of this
commuter's wife, and that is lilies-of-the-valley, and shade knows them
not between eight in the morning and five at night, and we pick and pick
steadily for two weeks, for as the main bed gives out, there are strips
here and there in cooler locations that retard the early growth, but
never any overhanging branches.

In starting a wholly new bed, as you are doing, it is best to separate
the tangled roots into small bunches, seeing to it that a few buds or
"pips" remain with each, and plant in long rows a foot apart, three rows
to a four-foot bed. Be sure to bury a well-tarred plank a foot in width
edgewise at the outer side of the bed, unless you wish, in a couple of
years' time, to have this enterprising flower walk out and about the
surrounding garden and take it for its own. Be sure to press the roots
in thoroughly and cover with three inches of soil.

In December cover the bed with rotten _cow_ manure for several inches
and rake off the coarser part in April, taking care not to break the
pointed "pips" that will be starting, and you will have a forest of
cool green leaves and such flowers as it takes much money to buy. Not
the first season, of course, but after that--forever, if you thin out
and fertilize properly.

In the back part of your lily-of-the-valley bed plant two or three rows
of the lovely poets' narcissus (_poeticus_). It opens its white flowers
of the "pheasant's eye" cup at the same time as the lilies bloom, it
grows sufficiently tall to make a good upward gradation, and it likes to
be let severely alone. But do not forget in covering in the fall to put
leaves over the narcissi instead of manure. Of other daffodils and
narcissi that I have found very satisfactory, besides the good mixtures
offered by reliable houses at only a dollar or a dollar and a quarter a
hundred (the poets' narcissi only costing eighty cents a hundred for
good bulbs), are Trumpet Major, Incomparabilis, the old-fashioned
"daffy," and the monster yellow trumpet narcissus, Van Sion.

The polyanthus narcissi, carrying their many flowers in heads at the top
of the stalk, are what is termed half hardy and they are more frequently
seen in florists' windows than in gardens. I have found them hardy if
planted in a sheltered spot, covered with slanted boards and leaves,
which should not be removed before April, as the spring rain and
winds, I am convinced, do more to kill the species than winter co