STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 41 



The royal ensignia of Japan is the chrysanthemum. You see 

 them on the Mikado's state papers, carriages and flags; also on 

 the soldiers' eaps and uniforms, but the flower of the people is 

 the blossoms or the cherry tree. In Japan the people call a pic- 

 nic going to see the flowers, and in June they go to the woods to 

 see "the snow that does not fall from the skies." 



The national emblem of Germany is the blue cornflower. The 

 German's great King Frederick was a man of very simple tastes. 

 He showed this very plainly in his choice of a favorite flower. 

 He preferred the simple cornflower to the loveliest flower ever 

 grown. While walking in the country one day, a little peasant 

 child, not knowing who he was, stepped up to him and gave him 

 a bunch of cornflowers. The king was delighted ; he thanked the 

 child warmly and slipped a gold coin into his hand. The flower 

 of France is the Fluer-de-lis, or flower of the iris. It is a pretty 

 flower and the Gauls were and are very proud of it. The idea of 

 the iris as a national flower was obtained from the tomb of a 

 powerful Gallic or French chief, who had in his day kept the 

 hated Saxons out of his country. Louis VI had the standards 

 and nobles' armor covered with the iris, but Charles VI reduced 

 the number to three, the mystical church number.' This has been 

 the number used ever since. 



The royal badge of England is the rose. It gave its name to 

 the "war of the roses," in which by doing their best to extermi- 

 nate each other, the nobles allowed the Tudors to slip into the 

 throne and tyranize over them for several centuries. Then the 

 white rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster gave way before 

 the astutely designed party-colored rose of the Tudors. 



The thistle of Scotland is a very ancient badge. There is noth- 

 ing very pretty or remarkable about the thistle, but like the corn- 

 flower it has a decided tendency to spread, and one don't like to 

 get too close to it. Its origin dates from the time the Danes in- 

 vaded Scotland. The Scottish army had encamped on the side 

 of a heather hill, the dames were on another hill not very far 

 from them. They thought that they could easily surprise the 

 Scotch. So they started off and creeping stealthily up the hill- 

 side were almost at the Scottish camp, when one of them stepped 

 on a thistle. It was an entirely unexpected foe and he uttered a 

 cry of pain. This roused the Scotch who fell upon them so 

 savagely that they drove them out of the country. Hence the 

 adoption of the thistle as a national flower or badge. 



When St. Patrick went to Ireland to convert the people they 

 gathered round him to hear what he had to say. He tried to 

 give them an idea of the Holy Trinity, but seeing he had made no 

 impression on them he picked up a clover leaf or shamrock, and 

 proceeded to show them. He let the petal in the middle repre- 

 sent God, the one on the right Christ, and the one on the left the 



