178 GARDEN FLOWERS. 



from Hungary and Russia. They were termed 

 colchicum from the ancient Colchis, interesting 

 to the classic reader, by its association, in the 

 legends of ancient Greece, with the expedition 

 of the Argonauts. 



OCTOBEE. 



"The little bird, yet to salute the morn, 

 Upon the naked branches sets her foot. 

 The leaves now lying on the mossy root; 

 And there a silly chirruping doth keep, 

 As though she fain would sing, yet fain would weep ; 

 Praising fair summer, that so soon is gone, 

 Or mourning winter, too fast coming on." 



Michael Dratton. 



Every gust which blows thins the scanty foliage 

 yet left on the boughs, and the leaf is broken as 

 it waveth to and fro, Avhile each bright sunbeam 

 seems to leave its red or yellov/ tinge on the 

 leaf ere it quits it. The humble flowers "which 

 yet remain of the summer are pale and wan : 

 even the taller dahlias are drooping; and were 

 it not for the Michaelmas daisies and the 

 Chinese chrysanthemums, and the verdure of 

 the evergreens, the scene would be already 

 desolate. Of these, however, it may even now 

 be said, " They are green before the sun, and 

 their branch shooteth forth in the garden:"* 

 yet still we can see that our Saxon forefathers 

 had appropriately designated this month, when 

 they termed it v/inter fyllith — winter begin- 

 ning. 



But though no straggling flower needs to be 



* Job viii. 16. 



