107 



jured, but gradually extending themselves by one or two advanced 

 outposts of tufts or single plants along the adjoining lanes. This 

 year the snowdrops were naturally somewhat forward ; and a few days 

 ago I had the pleasure of seeing them in undiminished numbers, and 

 in unrivalled beauty and perfection. Passing into the village of 

 Brockhara by the bridge over the Mole, turn into the lane almost 

 immediately on the right before reaching the principal part of the 

 green, down over another small bridge past a school-house on the 

 right, and one or two cottages on either side, until about some hun- 

 dred yards further a brook crosses the road, which in falling weather 

 would arrest the further progress of the thin-soled adventurer but for 

 a plank bridge on the left ; precisely opposite is a gate into a field on 

 the right hand ; enter ; follow the course of the rivulet, which soon 

 presents the irregular, deep, broken banks of a mimic torrent; and in 

 a very few yards, — don't snatch the first prize, there are plenty 

 beyond, — every fresh step displays the white, nodding masses of the 

 graceful Galanthus, crowding the banks, hanging over the edges, fill- 

 ing the little bays, occupying all the sheltered nooks and coverts of 

 the pretty windings of the streamlet, and extending so as to form the 

 complete carpet of an old orchard on the other side. This last 

 adjunct of course throws some doubt on the plant being truly indige- 

 nous here ; but it is, at all events, most thoroughly naturalized ; and 

 this retired spot, with its quiet rural scenery, the richness of the sur- 

 rounding landscape, even in winter-time, backed by the fine outlines 

 of the Box-Hill range, is well worth a visit, and will amply repay the 

 lover of Nature's simple charms. Nor is there among the gay daugh- 

 ters of Summer a flower more to be admired than is this humble, 

 unpretending cottage-maiden, with her chaste, elegant, snow-white 

 pendents, delicately tipped, and pencilled within with the purest, 

 loveliest green, — the winning, cheerful, hardy herald of our early 

 spring. 



W. Bennett. 



London, February 12, 1851. 



Wild Flowers in Bloom on Si. Valentine's Day. 

 By E. T. Bennett, Esq. 



Although this is a period of the year which presents very little to 

 attract the botanist who confines his attention to our native flowering 



