WILD FLOWERS OF MAY. 



(CONTINUED.) 



CHAP. XI. 



THE BONNIE BROOM. FLOWERS OF THE UPLAND WOOD 

 AND ITS TINKLING RILLS. THOSE OF THE RUINED AB- 

 BEY. THE BOG. THE GARDEN. SKETCH OF THE LILAC. 

 MAY-WEED. HERB PARIS. APPLE ORCHARDS IN 

 FLOWER. TULIP BEDS AND VALUE OF THEIR BULBS. 

 MOUNTAIN AND WOOD FLOWERS. FLOAT ON THE WATER. 



" Throw hither all your quaint enamell'd eyes, 

 That on the green turf suck the honied showers, 

 And purple all the ground with vernal flowers." 



MILTON'S LYCIDAS. 



The wood, the open country, and the garden, are all 



now equally delightful. Flowers of every hue attend 



upon us at each step we take. In the wild glen the 



"bonny bonny Broom" (Sarothamnus scoparius), covers 



every slope with golden veins, recalling the glowing 



language of BURNS, and many a pleasant recollection. 



" Their groves of sweet myrtle let foreign lands reckon, 



Where bright beaming summers exalt the perfume ; 



Far dearer to me yon lone glen o' green breckan, 



Wi' the burn stealing under the lang yellow broom." 



The lonely places where the Broom grows may perhaps 

 explain SHAKSPEAEE'S mention of it in connection 

 with the " dismissed bachelor," for an American tra- 

 veller thus remarks : " For hours I followed a mule 



