128 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



<( Strew, strew the glad and smiling ground 

 With every flower, yet not confound 

 The primrose drop, the spring's own spouse, 

 Bright daisies and the lips of cows, 

 The garden-star, the queen of May, 

 The rose, to crown the holiday." 



From the SHEPHERD'S HOLIDAY. 



The oxlip is by no means so common as the Cowslip : 

 it is considered as a link between that and the primrose. 

 It has been called the great primrose : but though the 

 oxlip flower spreads wider, the Cowslip has the advantage 

 in height. On this account Shakspeare selects the latter 

 for the courtiers of the Fairy Queen, in allusion to the tall 

 military courtiers called Queen Elizabeth's Pensioners : 



" The cowslips tall her pensioners be, 

 In their gold coats spots we see ; 

 Those be rubies, fairy favours, 

 In those freckles live their savours ; 

 I must go seek some dew-drops here, 

 And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear." 



The single Cowslip is rarely admitted into gardens, but 

 the double flowers are common : they have a good effect 

 by the side of the dark polyanthus, or shaded by a bunch 

 of glowing wallflowers. The roots may be purchased 

 almost for nothing. They who desire to have the single 

 flowers may transplant the wild roots, which should be 

 done about Michaelmas, and they will have time to gain 

 strength for flowering in the spring. But it must be ob- 

 served, that although these plants, in their wild state, are 

 entrusted to Nature's care, and though we must confess 

 that she deserves this confidence, we must no longer de- 

 pend entirely upon her care of them, after we have removed 

 them from her own great garden. 



Cowslips love a moist soil ; and when we plant them in 

 a pot, the small portion of earth which it contains will na- 



