JJTfje Summer JFlotoets. 161 



ness, and the yellow camomile (Anthemis tinc- 

 torid) is covered with its daisy-like flowers, re- 

 joicing in the increasing heat. It will soon be 

 succeeded by Coreopsis lanceolata, another of 

 the showy yellow composites, with the ever- 

 blooming pea, the double-flowering rocket, and 

 the large-leaved day-lilies, of which Sieboldti has 

 the finest foliage, and the white variety the finest 

 and sweetest flower. 



Not without just reason is the larkspur in- 

 cluded among the nine flowers specified in the 

 garden of " Maud " the woodbine, jasmine, vio- 

 let, acacia, pimpernel, rose, lily, passion-flower, 

 and larkspur. Keats should have included it in 

 his sonnet on blue. Holmes alludes to it neatly 

 in the " Autocrat " : 



Light as a loop of larkspurs 



light in its poise, and light or dark, as you wish 

 it, in its complexion, and beautiful in all its 

 forms. 



Sauntering at dusk through the fragrant gar- 

 den alleys, I hear as in a dream the last faint 

 notes of the vesper-sparrow; and see, kindling 

 the edge of the covert and sparkling amid the 

 shrubbery-glooms, the myriad fire-fly revelers 

 mernly dancing out the last sweet night of June. 



