94 RIVERSIDE LETTERS xn 



an environment as this brook-side afforded, it 

 presented a very much more vigorous and 

 effective appearance, and I at once saw how 

 nature had intended the plant to look, and 

 where it should grow and flourish. It was a 

 very good object lesson on the importance of 

 giving any plant in your garden, that you 

 wish to see in perfection, as near an ap- 

 proximation as you can in soil and situation 

 to that which it would have in its wild natural 

 state. 



In a good-sized spinney near Mr. Fisher's 

 house the " Lily of the Valley," Convallaria 

 inajalis, grows in the utmost abundance. 

 This is a native of our country, though rather 

 scarce, and as the little wood in which these 

 that I saw grow is well away from any garden, 

 I have no doubt but that they have flourished 

 here undisturbed from time immemorial.* 

 Mr. Fisher, whose father had the house and 

 farm before him, knows nothing as to their 



* Gerard says the " Convall Lily ''grew in his time on Hamp- 

 stead Heath, " fower miles from London," in great abundance at 

 Lee in Essex, and on Bushey Heath and many other places. 



