276 MORE POT-POURRI 



of Calendulas close on dull, damp days. Maund says of 

 these plants : ' The Latin pluvialis, which pertains to 

 rain, is used in reference to the influence which rain or 

 dew has on the opening and closing of the blossoms of 

 our present subject. All flowers, we believe, which 

 close in rainy or cloudy weather have the property of 

 closing at night. The same object, protection from 

 moisture, is attained in each instance. This peculiarity 

 is prettily alluded to in the following lines, which I 

 copy from Dr. Withering' s arrangement : 



The flower enamoured of the sun, 

 At his departure hangs her head and weeps, 

 And shrouds her sweetness up, and keeps 



Sad vigils, like a cloistered nun, 

 Till his reviving ray appears, 

 Waking her beauty as he dries her tears. 



The seed of this Calendula pluvialis may be sown in 

 the open ground in April. 



I have never seen Messrs. Backhouse's gardens at 

 York ; but so far as I can judge, from seeing various 

 rock gardens they have made and planted, no one is half 

 so good as they are for all Alpines. They have so im- 

 proved the actual plants that they are scarcely to be 

 recognised as the same which grow in their mountain 

 homes. Many will say : ' What a pity ! ' But that 

 applies to all rock -gardening. If one tries to grow 

 Alpines, one wants them to be strong and to live. 

 Saxifraga oppositifolia is, for instance, really like what 

 Mr. Backhouse describes in his catalogues and David 

 Wooster illustrated in his book on Alpine plants. Saxi- 

 fraga sancta blooms in profusion as early as this, and is 

 a bright, pale yellow. All these plants require either to 

 be divided or else to have some handfuls of light earth 

 thrown over them after flowering. Saxifraga bur- 



