MARCU 



29 



-.vindow, Avhere smoke somewhat impairs its 

 lustre, Tve are reminded of Elliott's lines : — 



" But mourning better days, the widow here 

 Still tries to make her little garden bloom, 

 For she was country born. No weeds aiipear 

 Where her poor pinks deplore their pnson-tomb; 

 To them, alas, no second spring shall come ! 

 And there in May the lilac gasps for breath ; 

 And mint and thyme seem fain their woes to speak, 

 Like saddest portraits painted after death ; 

 And spindling wallflowers in the choking reek . 

 For life, for life lift up their branches weak. 



The magnificent tribe of tulips, so often the 

 pride of the cottage garden, will now be coming 

 forth, one after another, as the spring advances, 

 but it will not be until May that the florist can 

 exhibit them in all their varieties, and con- 

 gratulate himself on their perfect forms and 

 clear colours. One of the earliest blowing 

 species, is that which is now found in many 

 a cherished garden plot, and is called by 

 gardeners Van Thol. {Tulipa suaveolens.) Its 

 red and yellow streaked cup glows in the fields 

 of southern Europe. 



The French formerly called this ilower Tu- 

 lipan, vfhich, as well as our own name, is derived 

 from the Persian Thouhjhan, the word used 

 in Persia for the turban. The tulip was intro- 

 duced into England about the year 1557, and 

 was, for the next century, a source of consider- 

 able traffic in the Netherlands, .is well as an ob- 

 ject of gambling. Growers of tulips, during the 

 Tulipomania, purchased the bulbs at enormous 

 prices, and most remarkable speculations were 

 carried on by merchants with the tuhp-roots. 



