34 THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



plant, and a host besides, so like to other things 

 than flowers, that they seem to have undergone a 

 metamorphosis under the magic wand of some trans- 

 forming power. 



Remembering the countries from which most of 

 them come the dank jungles of Hindostan the 

 fathomless woods of Mexico the unapproached 

 valleys of China one might almost fancy them the 

 remains of the magic influence which tradition 

 affirms of old to have reigned in those wild retreats ; 

 and that, while the diamond palaces of Sarmacand, 

 and the boundless cities of Guatemala, and the 

 colossal temples of Elephanta, have left but a ruin or 

 a name, these fairy creations of gnomes, and sprites, 

 and afreets, and jinns (if so we must call them), 

 being traced on the more imperishable material of 

 Nature herself, have been handed down to us as the 

 last vestiges of a dynasty older and more powerful 

 than European man. It is impossible to view a 

 collection of these magic-looking plants in flower 

 without being carried back to the visions of the 

 Arabian Nights not indeed wandering in disguise 

 through the streets of Bagdad with Haroun and his 

 vizier (we beg pardon wezeer), but entering with 

 some adventurous prince the spell-bound palace of 

 some sleeping beauty, or descending with Aladdin 

 into the delicious subterranean gardens of fruits, and 

 jewels, and flowers. 



To pass from the romantic to the useful, we can- 

 not do a kinder deed to our manufacturers than to 

 turn their attention to the splendid works of Mr. 



