48 OUR ROCK-GARDEN 



in pots for the purpose of perfuming our winter 

 apartments, and thus the plant, which so short a 

 time back could not by all its fragrant charms 

 obtain a corner in a cottage garden, now fills a 

 situation in the proud saloon, to the admiration of 

 all the crowd that usually attend the decorated 

 apartments of gay routs." That fashion, we imagine, 

 has long passed away ; but the delicate flowers and 

 fragrant odour of the plant make it a very welcome 

 member of our floral commonwealth, and especially 

 as it is in blosom quite early in the year. The leaf 

 figured is the size of the foliage when the plant is 

 flowering ; later on the leaves are considerably 

 larger. It flowers very freely with us, and can be 

 very readily multiplied by dividing up the roots, 

 so that it is a very convenient plant to exchange 

 with a botanical brother for something that he in 

 turn can spare, or, of course, to enrich his store 

 without thought of reward beyond mutual goodwill. 

 It is sometimes called the winter heliotrope. 



One curious feature in starting a wild garden is 

 that one comes into possession of so much more 

 than one anticipates, through the accidental intro- 

 duction of seeds, fibres of roots, and the like, with 

 the plants that we really do strive to introduce. 

 Only this last year we had springing up in our 

 garden the wild arum, purple hyacinth, anemone, 

 and several other plants that were not brought there 

 by any intention of ours, welcome as they were. 



