32 A YEAR IN A LANCASHIRE GARDEN. 



specially the double white Violet which comes 

 twice a-year : about the middle of April and 

 about Bartholomew-tide." Where is the double 

 white Violet grown now ? 



One of the greatest floral heresies of modern 

 days is as regards the Violet. Both Ruskin and 

 Lord Stanhope have asserted that the Violet of 

 the Greek and Latin poets was an Iris! If so, we 

 are to believe that Athens was crowned with Iris ; 

 that the revellers at banquets decked themselves 

 with wreaths of Iris ; that wine was flavoured with 

 Iris juice ; and that a Violet is nowhere mentioned ! 

 Fortunately, however, Pliny makes it clear that 

 there were Violets and Irises both, in old classic 

 times ; and the city of the Violet-crown is fragrant 

 as of yore. 1 



Some of the flowering shrubs are now coming 

 out and looking gay. There is the Mezereon with 

 its upright shoots, all purpled over with their 

 blossom ; there is the Rhododendron dauricum 

 with, its beautiful lilac bloom ; there, the oldest 

 favourite of all, is the Pyrus japonica, with its 

 bunches of cherry-coloured flowers, breaking out 

 all along the hard-twisted branches. This Pyrus 



1 See note I. on the Viola of the Romans. 



