THE PLANE TREE. 



THE PLANE TREE {Platanus orientalis).—GY.m\l?,. 



There was a long avenue of superb Plane Trees at 

 Athens, whither the Greeks used to resort. They also paid 

 a species of reverence or religious worship to these magnifi- 

 cent trees, which they dedicated to good genii and the 

 pleasures of the mind. 



THE PLUM TREE {Primus domesticd). — Keep your 

 Promises. 



Every year our Plum Trees cov^r themselves with an 

 abundance of flowers, but if the luxuriant growth of the 

 trees is not pruned by the able hand of a skilful fruit- 

 grower, they will not give us, the fruit they promise, more 

 than once in three years. 



POET'S NARCISSUS [Narcissus poetica). — Egotism. 



The Poet's Narcissus emits a pleasing perfume ; it carries 

 a golden crown in the middle of a large flower of ivory 

 whiteness, gently bending down. This plant seems natural to 

 our climate ; it delights in shade and in the freshness of the 

 river's rim. 



The ancients saw in this flower the metamorphosis of a 

 young shepherd, whom Love punished for his indifference by 



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