AUGUST 225 



neither honey nor pollen ; they put all their energy into 

 display, whereby passing insects may be attracted to the 

 sweets stored in the fertile florets within the pale. 



A thorough-going social system this, but as different 

 from socialism as may be, for each class of floret has its 

 separate functions with unequal share in the reward. 



The abundance and variety of exotic plants now at 

 the amateur's command are so bewildering, that it is well 

 to call attention only to such as are conspicuously better 

 of their kind. Of brambles there are many in cultiva- 

 tion; among the red flowering ones I am best pleased 

 with Rubus nobilis, a gift from Mr. Moore of the Botanic 

 Gardens, Glasnevin. It is like, but superior to, R. odora- 

 tus, bearing a long succession of rose-coloured flowers 

 with white anthers. For a free-growing wall-cover, com- 

 mend me to Solanum crispum, which will reward you 

 for giving it a south aspect by sending out shoots six 

 feet long in a single season, with a perfect cascade of 

 lilac and yellow blossom. 



Perhaps the loveliest exotic in the summer shubbery 

 is Andromeda or, as we are now told to call it, Zenobia 

 speciosa pulverulentissima. Don't be deterred by this 

 preposterous name, but lodge it in peaty soil and give it 

 support in youth of some half-rotten roots and branches ; 

 so shall you some day, surveying its silvery foliage and 

 garlands of pearly flowers, bless me for bringing it to 

 your notice. And if your lot be cast in the north country, 

 and a wandering spray of Tropceolum speciosum should 

 wind its carmine blossoms among the others, you may 

 rest satisfied : you have attained the most exquisite effect 

 of which cultivated nature is capable. 



To touch upon the shrubby species of Spiraea would 

 p 



