A Moonlight Garden 423 



page 292, and I have named it from these lines 

 from The Garden that I Love : 



" A running ribbon of perfumed snow 

 Which the sun is melting rapidly." 



At sundown the beautiful white Day Lily opens 

 and gives forth all night an overwhelming sweetness ; 

 J have never seen night moths visiting it, though I 

 know they must, since a few seed capsules always 

 form. In the border stand 



"Clumps of sunny Phlox 

 That shine at dusk, and grow more deeply sweet." 



These, with white Petunias, are almost unbearably 

 cloying in their heavy odor. It is a curious fact that 

 some of these night-scented flowers are positively 

 offensive in the daytime ; try your Nicotiana affinis 

 next midday it outpours honeyed sweetness at 

 night, but you will be glad it withholds its perfume 

 by day. The plants of Nicotiana were first intro- 

 duced to England for their beauty, sweet scent, and 

 medicinal qualities, not to furnish smoke. Parkin- 

 son in 1629 writes of Tobacco, " With us it is cher- 

 ished for medicinal qualities as for the beauty of its 

 flowers," and Gerarde, in 1633, after telling of the 

 beauty, etc., says that the dried leaves are " taken in 

 a pipe, set on fire, the smoke suckt into the stomach, 

 and thrust forth at the noshtrils." 



Snake-root, sometimes called Black Cohosh (Cimi- 

 cifuga raeemosa), is one of the most stately wild 

 flowers, and a noble addition to the garden. A 

 picture of a single plant gives little impression of its 



