332 MORE POT-POURRI 



terracotta pots with strong, well -grown Lemon -trees in 

 them, the pride of the Tuscan peasant's heart. The 

 flowers on them scented the air ; the peasants sell the pale 

 fruit at a special price all the summer through in the town 

 as we sell glass-grown Peaches. I think that if we tried to 

 grow plants of this sort of Lemon at home in pots or tubs, 

 it would be far better than trying to grow the more delicate 

 Oranges usually seen on terraces in England. I was 

 told I should find it too hot, but I never did once. Indeed, 

 at first I was disappointed ; it was not warm enough. But 

 in England they had snow early in June. The Irises, the 

 Tulips, all the wild spring flowers were over. I found 

 the fields in places filled with a curious orchidaceous- 

 looking plant which, terrible weed as it was, I thought 

 would look beautiful as a spring pot-plant. It turned 

 out to be a cruel parasitical growth, called Orobanchc 

 pruinosa, which grows on the roots of the Broad Beans, 

 destroying whole crops to the ruin of bad farmers. 

 It also grows on the roots of Geraniums, I am told ; 

 which will be convenient in making it a pot-plant at 

 home. 



My villa pension was surrounded with fine Cypresses 

 of all sizes and ages. I wonder when and how they 

 came to be planted round the houses? Some say the 

 peasants from all time have planted one as a kind of 

 dower when a daughter was born in the house. In 

 justification of this Mr. Loudon says that Pliny tells 

 several extraordinary stories about the durability of the 

 wood, and that the plantations of Cypresses were cut 

 down every thirteen years for poles, rafters, joists, etc., 

 which made the wood so profitable that a plantation of 

 Cypresses was thought a sufficient marriage portion for a 

 daughter. Theophrastus states that it grew naturally in 

 the isle of Crete, and that those who wish to have the 

 Cypress flourish must procure a little of the earth from 



