43 FLOWEBS. 
rope; and it is this lovely plant that has formed the 
theme of many a poct’s song. Wordsworth’s three 
beautiful poems are too familiar to be quoted. Spen- 
ser sang of the “little daisie that at evening closes ;” 
while Chaucer and Ben Jonson each had a good 
word for the bright “ day’s eye.” 
What is commonly called the daisy in this country 
is a species of Chrysanthemum: it is also of foreign 
origin, and is one of those plants whose beauty hardly 
repays for the trouble it gives the farmer, as it in- 
creases so rapidly, both by its roots and seed, that 
where it once obtains a footing, it soon spreads over 
whole fields, thus preventing the growth of that which 
is more valuable. It is considered by the Danes to 
be so injurious to the pasture, that one of the laws 
of Denmark compels the farmers on whose land it 
‘appears, to use every effort to eradicate it. 
There is also another variety of plants to which 
the name of Michaelmas daisy has been applied in 
England; they consist of various kinds of asters, 
- some of which have been introduced there from 
America and China. These are among the last 
flowers of summer, even blooming until late in the 
autumn. Some of them are possessed of great beauty ; 
the well-known China Aster, or Queen Marguerite, is 
among their number. 
The flowers of the daisies are what are termed 
compound, or similar to those of the dog-wood. The 
yeautiful white, blue, or rose-tinted petals, which are 
so conspicuous, are the rays of the involucre, and it 
is in the centre of these where the compact mass of 
