THE FIELD AND THE GARDEN. 07 



centre, as in the snowball; or the florets of the disk are 

 furnished with petals, as in the dahlia, and become in 

 each case a " double flower." By this transformation they 

 are rendered more valuable for bouquets and floral exhi- 

 bitions, and are more admirable as ornaments of the par- 

 terre. They have become more marketable, but less poet- 

 ical ; they are more the delight of the flower-girl, but 

 they are prized in a less degree by the botanist and the 

 poet, who prefer the objects of nature unsophisticated 

 by art. 



The field-flowers are praised by the poet Campbell, 

 because , they waft him to bygone summers, to birchen 

 glades and Highland mountains, to the shores of lakes 

 and their little islands ; because they are associated with 

 the notes of birds and the voices of streams. While ad- 

 mitting that they are eclipsed by the flowers of the garden, 

 he gives these wildings of nature his preference, because 

 they are allied with more pleasant memories and affec- 

 tions. He would cherish them that they may enliven his 

 declining years with the sensations of youth, and hopes 

 they may grow upon his tomb. The simple flowers of the 

 garden, however, which have not been greatly modified 

 by culture and retain their original characters, claim no 

 less attention than we bestow upon the flowers of the 

 field. The most ancient and common of these have 

 acquired the greatest share of our affection, because they 

 were our earliest friends. Such are the primrose, the 

 pansy, the narcissus, the tulip, the lily of the valley, — 

 perfectly primitive in its character, — and above all, the 

 white lily and the rose. We have become acquaint ed 

 with these flowers, not only from our early intercourse 

 with them in the garden, but from the frequent allusions 

 to them in the poetry of all ages, and in Holy Writ, But 

 they are not the favorites of florists. Fashion, who always 

 impudently interferes with our tastes and our ] Measures, 



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