SPEING. 53 



" Daisies leave no fruit behind 

 When the prettj" flow'rets die ; 

 Pluck them, and another year 

 As many will be bloomiug here." 



I would cultivate the daisy, did it not spring up every- 

 where, for this reason, if for no other, that it gives so many 

 happy hours to little hearts, so much work to little hands, 

 adorning themselves with daisy wreaths and chains, worn, 

 it may be, but for a few hours, then thrown aside to 

 wither; the young wearers secure that to-morrow, will 

 bring a fresh supply, — hopeful and trustful, as only child- 

 hood can be, that the morrow ^\i\\ dawn on fresh pleasures 

 and fresh flowers. Let the poet's malediction be theirs 

 who would uproot the daisy from our lawns — 



" May peace come never to his nest 

 Who shall reprove thee ! " 



To return to the heresy with which I started — that some 

 flowers may be occasionally allowed to bloom at the roots 

 of other plants — the snowdrop may be named as one which 

 has a peculiarly pleasing effect when thus placed. Among 

 grass it leaves its foliage after the flowers are gone, which 

 has an untidy appearance, as of coarse clumps of grass ; but 

 among groups of evergreens and shrubs, or at the roots of 

 trees, snowdrops look well, and seem to enjoy the protec- 

 tion thus afforded them. Primroses, too, have a pretty 

 effect when planted near the stems of large trees, especially 

 if, owing to any irregularity of their growth, there are little 

 nooks where they may nestle and look natural. 



It is not always easy to keep up a succession of flowers, 



