OLD-FASHIONED FLOWERS 



VIII 



WHAT flowers, then, blossomed in the 

 gardens of our fathers? Very few, no 

 doubt, and very small and very hum- 

 ble, scarce to be distinguished from 

 those of the roads, the fields and the 

 I glades. Before the sixteenth century, 

 j those gardens were almost bare ; and, 

 later, Versailles itself, the splendid Ver- 

 sailles, could have shown us only what 

 is shown to-day by the poorest village. 

 Alone, the Violet, the Garden Daisy, 

 the Lily of the Valley, the Marigold, 

 the Poppy, a few Crocuses, a few Irises, 

 a few Colchicums, the Foxglove, the 

 Valerian, the Larkspur,the Cornflower, 

 the Clove, the Forget-me-not, the 

 C 34 ] 



