CULTIVATING WILD-FLOWERS. 359 



In the same journal we find the following : " One of the best hardy- 

 aquatic plants, in flower at the present time, is the North American 

 Pickerel-weed (Pontederia cordata), a plant by no means so often met 

 with as it deserves to be. It produces a stout spike of handsome sky- 

 blue flowers from l to 2 feet high. No ornamental water should be 

 without this charming aquatic, which should, however, have a place 

 near its margin." " The American Pitcher-plant (Sarraeenia pur- 

 purea) is thriving as well as any native plant in the bog-garden in 

 Messrs. Backhouse's nurseries at York, and by its side a healthy little 

 specimen of the still more curious Darlingtonia Californica is begin- 

 ning to grow freely." 



The Asclepias family in America is very rich in species, but the 

 above-mentioned one is by far the noblest of them all. From the fact 

 that it attracts around it large numbers of these beautiful creatures, it 

 is often called the Butterfly-weed. The plant was formerly held in 

 high repute as a medicine, under the name of Pleurisy-root. But its 

 gorgeously-colored flowers, so intensely orange, and so densely massed 

 in heavy umbels, present a gorgeous richness which is incomparable. 

 There is an African species, with flowers of a similar color, which is 

 carefully cultivated in conservatories ; but, when contrasted with our 

 native plant, on every count, the foreigner becomes tame, and mean, 

 if not insignificant, in the comparison. As to the Pickerel- weed, it is 

 of easy culture ; and in the margin of garden-ponds, or fountain-basins, 

 it might be pronounced as gracefully genteel. The Pitcher-plant, if 

 set higher up on the banks in a bed of sphagnum, or bog-moss, would 

 be so uniquely elegant as to deserve the epithet recherche. This same 

 plant can be grown in a pot, simply by keeping the saucer well sup- 

 plied with water, while its quaint flowers, and the curious structure of 

 the leaves, would make it the favorite bit of bijoutry in the floral jewels 

 of the window. 



This culture of wild-flowers, to some extent, can be indulged in by 

 almost all. Its effect upon a mind of average intelligence is surprising* 

 We have, in our acquaintance, a village bricklayer, a man whose means 

 are of the most slender kind. He has a love for flowers, and shows- 

 considerable tact in producing effect by massing the different popular 

 sorts. The imported asters, the improved petunias, and pansies, are 

 severally made to effect a blaze of color. But his chief affection cen- 

 tres in a little spot where he keeps his wild-flowers, among which he 

 pointed out to us, with an amiable pride, his pet pogonias, obtained 

 from the swamp over the way. This man has become quite a system- 

 atist in botany, and is deservedly looked upon as the botanical light 

 in his community. And who could possibly indulge in this pleasure 

 of wild-flower culture long without wanting to know the names of his 

 plants ? But, as few of them have popular names, he must turn to 

 botany for information. Thus this innocent and elevating pursuit 

 may become a key to the acquisition of scientific knowledge, and the 



