442 Some Remarks on the Oxalis, 



cettes beyond the lapidary's skill, in every frozen dew-drop un- 

 der his feet. The minutest floret of a foreign clime, the mild 

 eye of a single pansy, " freaked with jet," would aflbrd a deeper 

 thrill of pleasure, than a forest hung in pendant crystals of pellu- 

 cid ice. 



This admiration for the truly beautiful and delicate in nature 

 insensibly produces a corresponding sensation on the heart, while 

 at the same time it is nowise averse to a proper estimation of 

 the grander and more majestic. One may thus admire the splen- 

 dor of a thunder-storm, with all the sublime phenomena which 

 accompany it, but he will be mare and oftener delighted with the 

 rich effulgence of a western sky, or the mild radiance of the 

 silent and solitary evening star, the precursor cf the other and 

 myriad luminaries of heaven. 



"Who loves a garden, loves a green-house too," says Cowper, 

 who seems to have found, in nature, charms and truths which 

 society nor the world did not afford. To this sentiment we may 

 add, that the lover of the garden, in the lieu of the green-house, 

 loves the humble substitute of a sunny v/indow, in whose broad 

 and clear panes, a few choice exotics may flourish and smile in 

 the very face of the wintry storm without. To unite variety 

 with beauty is his aim. Plants of humbler growth and of vivid 

 colors are therefore most likely to be selected. The deep ever- 

 green foliage and varied flowers of the favorite camellia are pro- 

 minent in this parlor cultivation. Requiring, comparatively, but 

 a small j)ortion of light and sun, they may be made to give way, 

 and modestly to retire from the front of the sashes, that the 

 smaller and more sensitively affected individuals can enjoy the 

 full benefits of their appropriate situation. Now one cannot con- 

 ceive of a more beautiful and elegant group for a parlor window 

 than such an union of a few fine camellias, blooming behind and 

 overtopping a number of Cape oxalises, with, perhaps, a favorite 

 hyacinth, a golden mimulus, or a delicate gilia, to heighten and 

 complete the effect of such a combination of beauty, grace and 

 value. 



Most of the oxalises are bulbous rooted plants. Their culti- 

 vation is extremely simple. Some of those from the Cape of 

 Good Hope are autumnal, though most, winter blooming spe- 

 cies. Of the former, O'xalis rubella, with beautiful rose-colored 

 flowers and long prostrate stems, and another commonly known 

 as O. pentaphylla, though we think only a variety of 0. rubella, 

 with lilac or pale purple flowers, and of the same habit, may be 

 recommended for elegance and beauty. The O'xalis pentaphylla 

 of Sims, having quite distinct characters, leads us to suppose that 

 this individual kind is either a variety or else a misnomer. Of 

 the smaller winter flowerers, we know none so unique and pretty 

 as O. versicolor, scarcely four inches in height, and abundant in 



