38 CEUCIFEEJE. 



guard to his country and to humanity might have extinguished 

 the abounding young life or crippled its powers for years ! 



If the Wallflower be the Queen of Beauty, surely the Sea 

 Stock (Mathiola incana, Plate III., fig. 7), should be a leading 

 star of her court. Its crimson petals and powdery foliage 

 present a very pleasing contrast, and we owe to it the various 

 beautiful Stocks which adorn our gardens. It is fragrant, 

 though not so much as the Wallflower. My specimen was 

 sent me from the Isle of Wight last May. 



Prominent for utility, as the Wallflower and Stock for beauty, 

 stands the Cabbage family (Brassica oleracea, Plate III., fig. 8). 

 Yet, though no poet has ever thought of a rhyme in praise of 

 either the plant or flower of the honest Cabbage, I have seen 

 both arrayed in lovely attire. On a bright October morning 

 I set off on an excursion to the Pentland Hills. There had 

 been a white frost ; and, as we approached the hills, we saw 

 the rime still lingering on the shady side of the trees and 

 buildings, while the country beyond was bathed in sunshine, 

 and gorgeous with autumnal tints. In the " kail-yard" of a 

 small farm-house rows of Cabbages, green and red, stood in 

 prim order, each curled leaf fringed along veins and margin 

 with Nature's diamonds. I stopped to admire, and thought 

 how few hooped ladies in a ball-room could be so magnificently 

 bejewelled, while their form resembled that of the plants before 

 me so closely as to suggest the analogy. Fanny describes the 

 maritime cliffs at Fowey, on the coast of Cornwall, as rendered 

 gay with the yellow flowers and glaucous leaves of the Sea 

 Cabbage, and the clusters of the red Valerian, If we imagine 

 these plants relieved by dark rocks behind, and suspended over 

 a crowded harbour and foaming sea, we can believe the beauty 

 which they helped to form. By cultivation this Cabbage 

 becomes finer, larger, and more nutritrious. It is the original 

 of our divers cabbages. 



Edward has nice specimens of the Wild Kape (B. napus), 

 with its glaucous leaves, heart-shaped at the base, and clasping 



