that can work out its purpose in secret and un- 

 der oppression, and be ready in tbe fullness of 

 time to make that purpose manifest and com- 

 plete. The snowdrop teaches also another lesson. 

 It marks out the proarcss of time. We cannot 

 behold it without feelings that another spring has 

 come, and immediately our thoughts recur to 

 the events which have occurred since last its 

 fairy bells were expanded. 



" It is of little consequence what flower comes 

 next under consideration. A few specimens 

 will serve the purpose of proving that these 

 lovely productions of Nature are, in tlieir gene- 

 ral associations, liighly poetical. The primrose 

 is one upon which we dwell with pleasure pro- 

 portioned to our taste for raral scenerj', and the 

 estimate we have previously formed of the ad- 

 vantages of a peaceful and secluded life. In 

 connection with this flower, imagination pictures 

 a thatched cottage standing on the slope of the 

 hill, and a little woody dell, whose green banks 

 are spangled all over with yellow stars, while a 

 troop of rosy children are gamboling on the 

 same bank, gathering the flowers, as we used to 

 gather them ourselves, before the toils and strug- 

 gles of mortal conflict had worn us down to what 

 we are now, and thus presenting to the mind 

 the combined ideas of natural enjoyment, inno- 

 cence, and rural peace — the more vivid, be- 

 cause we can remember the time when some- 

 thing like this was mingled with the cup of 

 which we drank — the more touching, because 

 we doubt whetlier, if such pure drops w^ere 

 still there, they would not to our taste have lost 

 their sweetness. 



" The violet, while it pleases by its modest, re- 

 tiring beauty, po.ssesses the additional charm of 

 tlie most exquisite of all perfumes, which, in- 

 haled with the pure and invigorating breezes of 

 spring, always brings back in remembrance a 

 lively conception of that delightful season. Thus, 

 in the language of poetry, ' tlie violet-scented 

 gale ' is synonymous with those accumulated 

 and sweetly-blended gratifications which we 

 derive from odors, flowers, and balmy breezes ; 

 and, above all, from the contemplation of reno- 

 vated nature, once more bursting forth into 

 beauty and perfection. 



" The jasmine, also, with ita dark, green leaves 

 and little silver stars, saluting us with its deli- 

 cious scent through the open casement, and im- 

 pregnating the whole atmosphere of the garden 

 with its sweetness, has been sung and celebrated 

 by so many poets, that our associations are with 

 their numbers rather than with any intrinsic 

 quality in the flow^er itself. Indeed, whatever 

 may have first established the rank of flowers iu 

 the poetical world, they have become to us like 

 notes of music passed on from lyre to lyre ; and 

 whenever a chord is thrilled with the harmony 

 of song, these lovely images present themselves, 

 neither impaired in their beauty nor exhausted 

 of their sweetness, for having been the medium 

 of poetic feeling ever since the world began. 



" It is impossible to expend a moment'sthought 

 upon the lily, without recurring to that memo- 

 rable passage in the sacred volume — ' Consider 

 the lilies of the field, how they grow. They 

 toil not, neither do they spin ; and yet I say unto 

 you, that Solomon in all his glory was not ar- 

 rayed like one of these.' From the little com- 

 mon flower called heart's ease, we turn to that 

 ■well-known passage of Shakspeare, where the 

 fairy king so beautifully describes the "little 

 AA-estem flower." And the forget-me-not has a 

 thousand associations tender and touching, but, 

 (830) 



unfortunately, like many other sweet things, 

 rude hands have almost robbed it of its charm. 

 Who can behold the pale narcissus, standing 

 by the silent brook, its stately form reflected in 

 the glassy mirror, without losing himself in that 

 most fanciful of all poetical conceptions in which 

 the graceful youth is described as gazing upon 

 his own beauty, until he becomes lost in ad- 

 miration, and finally enamored of himself; 

 while hopeless Echo sighs herself away into a 

 sound, for the love which, having centered in 

 such an object, was neither to be bought by her 

 caresses nor won by her despair ? 



" Through gardens, fields, forests, and even over 

 rugged mountains, we might wander on in this 

 fanciful quest after remote ideas of pleasurable 

 sensation connected with present beauty and 

 enjoyment ; nor would our search be ti-uitless, 

 so long as the bosom of the earth affbrded a re- 

 ceptacle for the germinating seed — so long as 

 the gentle gales of summer continued to waft 

 them from the parent stem, or so long as the 

 welcome sun looked forth upon the ever-bloom- 

 ing garden of Nature. 



" One instance more, and we have done. The 

 ' lady rose,' as poets have designated this queen 

 of beauty, claims the latest though not the least 

 consideration in speaking of the poetry of flow- 

 ers. In the poetic werld, the first honors have 

 been awarded to the rose, for w-hat rea.sou it is 

 not easy to define, unless from its exquisite 

 combination of perfume, form, and color, which 

 has entitled this sovereign of flowers in one 

 countrj' to be mated with the nightingale ; in 

 another, to be chosen, with the distinction of red 

 and white, as the badge of two honorable and 

 royal houses. It would be difficult to trace tlie 

 supremacy of the rose to its origin ; but mankind 

 have so generally agreed in paying homage to 

 her charms, that our associations in the present 

 day are chiefly with the poetic strains in which 

 they are celebrated. After all the pains that have 

 been taken to procure, transplant and propagate 

 the rose, there is one kind perpetually bloom- 

 ing around us through the summer months, 

 without the aid or interference of man, which 

 seems to defy his art to introduce a rival to its 

 own unparalleled beauty — the common wild 

 rose. Blooming in tlie sterile w^aste, this lovely 

 flower is seen unfolding its fair leaves where 

 there is no beauty to reflect its own, and thus 

 calling back the heart of the weary traveler to 

 thoughts of peace and joy — reminding him that 

 the wilderness of human life, though rugged 

 and ban-en to the discontented beholder, has 

 also its sweet flowers, not the less welcome for 

 being unlocked for, nor the less lovely for being 

 cherished by a hand unseen." 



To these elegantly expres.sed sentiments, 

 nothing need be added by the writer of these 

 pages. 



Laying out of Flower-Gardexs. — Flow- 

 ers are cultivated in the borders and parterres 

 of gardens of a mixed kind, along with kitchen 

 vegetables and fruits ; and this may be said to 

 be the general plan in tho.se grounds of limited 

 space belonging to persons of moderate means, 

 and limited in "the extent of their pos-sessions. 

 Many, however, cultivate flowers in gardens 

 exclusively appropriated to them, and also in 

 the isolated clumps which decorate ornamental 

 lawns. In whichever way, tlie method of cul- 

 ture is clearly the same ; and therefore it is un- 

 necessary for us to enter into particulars with 

 reference to all the sizes and kinds of gardens 

 in which flowers may be grown. 



