2 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST, 



precise, but here they are not \vithst^indin,!j^. It is fortun- 

 ate that no flower nor man either, for that mattt-r, is out- 

 side the pale of human sympathy. Sunflowers flourish in 

 an old-time garden, and upon them we find the dainty 

 yellow-birds pecking at the nourishing seeds. We wonder 

 if these flowers do turn- to the sun, or whether that is a 

 love-sick fal)le of Tom Moore's. We do not despise the 

 sunflower, although he is a somewhat shabby fellow, and 

 swells into premature magnificence. Did not Captain . 

 Cuttle deem it worth3' to present to Mr. Dombe\' ? 



Mint, lavender, horehound, lemon verbena are here, 

 all sweet smelling and pleasant. In the afternoon the 

 four-o'clocks open their red and white or j'-ellow blossoms, 

 the "marvel of Peru" furnishing at one time, maybe, a 

 nosega3' for the Incas. 



Vervain and larkvSpur, monkshood and fox-gloves, are 

 usually found together with lovage and spurge. Of roses, 

 we need not speak ; every old garden is full of them ; red, 

 white and yellow. Even those well beloved plants are 

 subject to capricious mutations. What can surpass the 

 old familiar blush rose that used to grow by the arbor in 

 our garden ? We can see it after this lapse of years, and 

 it's pretty neighbor, the sw^eet-brier, with a breath like 

 that of a sleeping babe. 



If in our list we have failed to mention anybody's fav- 

 orite flower, it is an unintentional omission. We would 

 grieve no plant lover; if w^e cannot meet on any other 

 common ground, we can harmonize in the garden. 



There are few plants in which the effects of cultivation 

 are so marked as in the common pansy, the Viola tricolor. 

 In it's wild state, and, indeed, as w^e find it in old gardens, 

 it is a small, parti-colored violet, not always particularly 

 pretty. Careful treatment as to soil and judicious eradi- 

 cation of the smaller and less beautiful forms, year after 

 year, selecting seed from the most vigorous specimens, 

 have worked wonders, until now we have the innumerable 

 varieties which gladden the hearts alike of rich and poor. 



One can hardly go anywhere now-a-days where he 



