FEBRUARY 25 



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65a. v. 147. 



For a charming account of the beauties of the snow- 

 drop I will again refer to Forbes Watson's book; it 

 is very exhaustive, and says much for the sweet at- 

 tractiveness of the flower ; but I think this is shown 

 by no writer (and many have sung its praises) so 

 touchingly as by Tennyson in two lines, in which he 

 makes the poor dying May Queen pray that she may 

 be spared just a little longer : 



' I only wish to live till the snowdrops come again, 

 I long to see a flower so the day before I die.' 



Very shortly I must speak of the spring snowflake. 

 It is a most graceful flower, closely allied to the snow- 

 drop, and does well with me, but, unlike the snowdrop, 

 it increases very slowly. Its chief difference from the 

 snowdrop is that the three sepals and the three petals 

 are all the same length, thus giving the flower a bell- 

 shape, so that it more deserves the name of bell of 

 the snow, bell of the winter, etc., than the snowdrop. 

 It is not a true British native, though the summer 

 snowflake, which really only differs in size and time 

 of flowering, is undoubtedly wild on the banks of the 

 Thames. 



