6 Spring Flowers. 



treated of elsewhere, and it is not of them that we shall speak here. 

 There is another class of plants, of which very little is generally known, 

 but which, if not more brilliant, are, in many respects, more interesting, 

 and, what is no less to the purpose in the eyes of many people, quite as 

 easy of culture. 



Perhaps there is no better way of describing them than to take them in 

 turn, in the order in which they bloomed under our eyes during the last 

 spring. Our description, then, will be in the way of a garden chronicle. 

 The times of blooming, as here set down, must, of course, be taken with 

 allowance \ for they will vary with different seasons and situations. We 

 begin with a contemporary of the snowdrop. 



April I. — Eranthis hiemalis, or mni&r aconite. This is a little plant, 

 with a tuberous root and a bright-yellow flower, which often appears before 

 the snow has gone, shining like a star on the surface of the black oozy 

 mould. It grows close to the earth, and has a root shaped like a minute 

 potato, whence it sends out long underground fibres, by which it spreads 

 and increases. It is reasonably hardy ; but in a severe season, without 

 snow, is occasionally killed. 



The black hellebore, Hellebonis niger, or Christmas rose, with its large 

 white flowers, shaded with pink, blooms in the midst of snow-storms. In 

 some parts of England, it is said to flower all winter. We have seen one, 

 in a neighboring garden, covered with bloom on Thanksgiving Day, when 

 the borders around were all darkness and desolation. It was protected 

 during the night by a bell-glass ; and this would be ver}^ useful in the early 

 spring also, when the frosts, though they cannot destroy its hardy flowers, 

 are apt to disfigure them. There are other sorts of hellebore ; among the 

 rest, one with green flowers : but the Christmas rose is by far the best. 



April 5. — The next flower that appears is a shrub, Daphne mezereiwi. 

 It is of small growth, and very pretty, both w'hen in bloom, and when cov- 

 ered with its bright-red berries, which, however, are poisonous. The flowers 

 — pink in one variety, and white in another — cling close to the upright 

 stems, from which, as yet, the leaves have not appeared, and diffuse their 

 sweet and powerful fragrance, for which the mezereum is well known. The 

 shrub is compact and bushy. When young and small, its tenure of life is 

 uncertain, and it is difficult to transplant ; but, when once well established. 



