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banks, lofty hills and lowly vales, where are scattered "free and 

 wild " the bright gems of Flora, and where we used to wander to be- 

 hold their beauty. It is with feelings of delight, indeed, that the 

 lover of nature — he "whose pleasures are in wild fields gathered ;" he 

 to whom " the meanest flower that blows can give thoughts that do 

 often lie too deep for tears," — it is with heartfelt delight, indeed, that 

 he gazes on the first flower of the spring — the little herald of "joyous 

 summer time." He reads in its humble flowers of coming pleasures. 

 He admires the sweet thing for its own sake, as, in its humility, it 

 shyly peeps from under the green herbage of its shaded bank, — he 

 enjoj's its simple beauty and its delicious fragrance — and not only 

 those of the little flower itself, but the dear remembrance of many 

 another sweet gem which it calls to memory. He reads in its bright 

 flowers of the coming of the blushing rose and the briar ; of the pale 

 primrose, the purple heather, and the lowly lily of the vale, — yes, and 

 of many more. 



During the present season I have had the pleasure (and it has been 

 to me a real heartfelt pleasure) of finding the sweet violet in several 

 localities in this county. From the interest attached to the plant, as 

 well as from its being considered " very rare in Scotland," I am in- 

 duced to send you a note of these localities for the ' Phytologist.' I 

 do not set down the plant as indigenous at each of the following 

 stations, or indeed any one of them ; but it seems quite naturalized at 

 all of them : and I believe that it can only be considered in the light 

 of a naturalized plant to Scotland. 



The first station which T desire to record is the north bank of the 

 beautiful river Eden, just a short way up the river from the fine old 

 bridge of Dairsie, and at the foot of the declivity, at the top of which 

 rear in sacred majesty up through the surrounding lofty trees, the ve- 

 nerable time-worn church and spire, and the crumbling ivied ruins of 

 the old castle. Here 1 find the plant growing profusely upon the 

 steep banks, and even descending to the flat ground within two feet or 

 so of the river. And here have I frequently enjoyed a calm and serene 

 wander along the green margin of the placid river, when, under the 

 kindly shade of osiers and bird-cherries, the little violet peeped 

 modestly forth, and flung its sweet odours to the passing zephyr. It 

 likewise grows in some profusion on a steep sunny bank on the out- 

 side of the wall that encloses the old burying-ground on the south 

 side. And here it is delightful to see the sweet things basking in an 

 April noon-day sun, and an early wild bee wandering from flower to 

 flower gathering honied treasures. I may here offer a remark in regard 



