JULY 185 



title of my own choosing. To-day the sparkling Summer 

 river lies in the bright clasp of the sunlight, and many a lane 

 leading to it is littered with gold and silver threads fallen 

 from the hay-cart. The pleasant odour that is wafted from 

 the newly-mown meadows owes much to the sweet-scented 

 vernal grass, whose grateful perfume is so near akin to 

 sweet woodruff (Asperula odorata) now making with its 

 panicles of blossoms white patches upon the " river's lip." 

 This last-named flower was a great favourite with those folk 

 who in past times delighted in placing sweet-smelling herbs, 

 such as lavender and rosemary, in their linen presses. This 

 was a very pleasant custom, but it has long since died out, and 

 was one which shows, to my thinking, that in those days house- 

 wives loved a sweetly-scented atmosphere in their rooms, and 

 had in consequence sweeter minds and more gentle ways ! 

 Other flowers which call for special notice are the tall and 

 stately teasel (Dipsacus syfoestris), queen of the meadows, 

 common gipsy-wort, brook-lime, and money-wort. Of grasses 

 we may discover the handsome reed canary grasses a variety 

 of that cultivated and found in most gardens, and best 

 known as ribbon grass others, for their grace, are the float- 

 ing meadow grass, reed meadow grass, and water whole grass. 



But summer is fast bearing away many a favourite blossom 

 whose stay we would fain prolong. Madam Sarah Grand, in 

 one of her books, wrote a pretty passage on this flower-love, 

 which each of us own in some measure : " We do not leave a 

 taste for flowers behind us with our toys. If we like flowers 

 as children, we love them as men. The taste develops like 

 a talent when we cultivate it. To love flowers with true 

 appreciation of their affinities in regard to certain persons is 

 an endowment, a grace of Nature, which bespeaks the most 

 absolute refinement of the mind." 



