AN HOUR WITH THE HOLLYHOCK. 311 



in this land are altogether closed to the public ; and the 

 number of visitors to them testifies at once their sense of 

 the boon conferred and their appreciation of the beautiful 

 objects they contain. And while the tendency of these 

 visits is to improve and refine the less wealthy who may 

 thus enjoy what their means does not enable them to 

 possess, they promote a kindly feeling, and help to bind 

 together the various classes of the community. 



The flowering season, then, is at length arrived, and 

 with what pleasure do we hail the first flowers as they 

 break upon the sight. With their expansion we feel 

 rewarded for the year's toil. What symmetry of form 

 marks our choicest productions! What variation, what 

 brilliancy, and what delicacy of hue, pervade the assembled 

 mass ! Well may we exclaim as we admire 



" Who can paint 



Like Nature ? Can imagination boast 

 Amid its gay creation hues like hers ? 

 Or can it mix them with that matchless skill, 

 And lose them in each other, as appears 

 In every bud that blows ?" 



The interest increases day by day; every visit, how- 

 ever oft-repeated, discloses some new candidate for admir- 

 at i on _ something to please and something to instruct "- 

 till from the solitary flower blushing at the base of the 

 spike the flower-stalk rises a column of beauty. The 

 spike, at the time of the expansion of the blossoms, 

 is probably five or six feet high ; and as we count the rows 

 of embryo flowers which stud its length, and know that 

 they will still expand, we wonder where and when our joys 

 will end. The arrival of winter alone is likely to stay 

 their unfolding, and that is too far in the distance to mar 

 our present enjoyment. 



It should be our aim to preserve the column as long as 

 possible. If any flowers expand irregularly, of bad colour 

 or form, they should be immediately cut out, when the 



