258 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



along " seems to be the ruling motto. Alas ! 

 what beauty and opportunities we miss. 



Mr. Norman Lockyer tells while on a 

 scientific trip to the Rockies, he met with an 

 aged Abbe and could not help showing his 

 surprise. The Abbe saw that he was sur- 

 prised to find him there — told him that he 

 had been ill, and that the doctors had given 

 him up. One morning he seemed to faint 

 and had a dream that he was already in the 

 arms of Bon Dieu. " And," said the Abbe, 

 " I fancied one of the angels came and 

 asked me, ' Well, Alons. L' Abbe, how do 

 you like the beautiful world you have just 

 left?' And then it occurred to me that J, 

 who had all my life been preaching about 

 heaven, had seen scarcely anything of the 

 world in which I had been living, and I de- 

 termined, if Providence spared me, to s^c 

 something of the w^orld, and here I am." 



The subjects I give this month do not 

 need the pictorial illustrations, as every one 

 is familiar with their faces and can call up 

 before the mind's eye the image of them. 



Iris. — The ancients nariied this plant the 

 attendant of Juno, because its colors are the 

 same as those which the poets and mytholo- 

 gical writers have bestowed on the messen- 

 ger of this goddess. Every quarter of the 

 world possesses the Iris, and excepting the 

 rose, no flower has been more celebrated by 

 the historian and the poet than this genus 

 of plant. The ancients used the Iris, or 

 flag flower, as the symbol of elegance, and 

 on this account it was, we presume, placed 

 by the Egyptians on the brow of the Sphinx, 

 as is to be seen in the collection of antique 

 statuary at the Louvres in Paris, where 

 there are three Sphinxes, all of which have 

 the Iris sculptured on the brow. About 

 the middle of the 12th century, Louis VII 



of France, having been excommunicated by 

 the Pope, and his kingdom laid under an 

 interdict, was persuaded to take up the 

 cross and join in the war of the Crusades, 

 on which occasion he distinguished himself 

 by a particular blazon, for which he chose 

 the Iris flower. From that time it was 

 called " Fleur de Louis," Louis' flower, 

 which was soon contracted into " Fleur de 

 Luce," afterwards into " Fleur de Lis," lily 

 flower, although it has no affinity to the lily. 

 This flower soon became celebrated in 

 France, being employed in the decorative 

 embellishments of. the crown itself. The 

 Fleur de Lis for a time had a place in the 

 British coat of arms, but on the ist of Janu- 

 ary, 1800, it gave place to the Shamrock, 

 which is now united with the rose and 

 thistle. 



Fuchsia, named after Leonard Fuchs, 

 1 501- 1 565. The fuchsia was known in 

 France early in 1700, but not in England 

 until 1800. It is a native of Mexico, Bra- 

 zil, Chili, Peru and New Zealand. In some 

 parts of England it is known as " Lady's 

 Ear Drops." A story is told of Mr. Lee, 

 a well known London florist, when he saw 

 for the first time a fuchsia plant in bloom 

 in a window of a small house in Wapping, 

 he was struck with the beauty of the flower, 

 and asked the woman of the house if it 

 were hers, and if she would sell it. She at 

 first refused, as her husband, who was a 

 sailor, had sent it to her from Brazil. He 

 ofifered her eight guineas, and promised her 

 two of the first plants reared. She agreed, 

 and he kept his promise, and realized three 

 hundred pounds for his other cuttings. 

 This is the advantage of using one's eyes 

 and brains. 



