THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS. 211 



It is said that the Erythrina may be taken out of 

 the ground, just as you would the bulb of a hyacinth, 

 and kept during the Winter in a dry place. Acting 

 on this information, I once tried to pull up one of 

 these small trees. Be not too censorious ! It was 

 growing on some waste ground, and there were other 

 extenuating circumstances. However, it held too 

 tight. 



The Rose may be considered as " hors concours." 

 In the allied Apple family I give all my votes in 

 favour of the Quince (Cydonia). And if fruit trees 

 are allowed to count, the Peach may stand as 

 champion of the Almond tribe without much fear of 

 defeat. But from an ornamental point of view the 

 Peach is almost too abundant in some districts of 

 the Riviera ; the mass of red is quite oppressive to 

 the eye. At Hyeres, for instance, it is said that the 

 Peach tree is supplanting the Orange. The Spireas 

 are represented by a small white-flowered shrub 

 without which no garden in these parts is complete. 

 The popular name is " Italian May." If there were 

 a prize for producing the greatest possible number of 

 blossoms, we might award it to this praiseworthy little 

 plant. 



In the Saxifrage family, the Maritime Alps 

 possess a plant of great beauty and rarity, the famous 

 S. Florulenta. It was discovered by an Englishman 

 on the verge of the perpetual snow near the highest 

 crests of the mountains. As no further specimen 

 was found by any one after this for a space of 

 thirty-six years, the Florulenta began to be regarded 

 as a mythical plant. But at last the Abbe Montolivo, 

 enthusiastic botanist of Beaulieu, and other native 



HA 



