98 FAMILIAR GARDEN FLOWERS. 



flower are few, and even then not always in the best of 

 taste. Thomson rejoices in the seclusion — • 



" AVhore, scatter'd wild, the lily of the vale 

 Her balmy Cfsscnce lircathes," 



whieli is commonplace enough; and Prior associates this 

 humble flower with the glories of King Solomon, when he 

 ouglit to have known that the scarlet martagou lily is the 

 only one tjiat can claim to be the " lily of the held." 



The plentifulness of the lily of the valley as a Britisb 

 wilding is not known to the average of holiday Ijotanists, 

 because they do not tra\'(d much in the season when it 

 flowers. It is most abundant in woods and glens, from 

 far north to far south, and is mostly a haunter of moist, 

 mild, and shaded places in the western parts of Britain, but 

 is scarcely known as a wilding in Ireland. 



As a garden plant it is nowhere seen to such advantage 

 as in half-wild places, where anemones and violets and prim- 

 roses are scattered without order in a miscellaneous mosaic. 

 Then there are uses for the four or Ave varieties, and the 

 effect of these in irregular masses is far too delightful to 

 admit of being set down in black and white. The double 

 variety is a little "lumpy," perhaps, but makes a fine 

 button-hole flower. The rosy variet)- is exquisitely beauti- 

 ful, but no one knows of its beauty who has not seen it in 

 considerable masses, running hither and thither, mixed with 

 the white. TJie striped-leaved variety does not flower so 

 freely as the green, but makes amends b}' its foliage. 



The common lily of the valley may l^e planted any- 

 where and everywhere with some prospect of a successful 

 result. But the best jihrce for it is in a somewliat damp 

 soil, in a position partially- shaded, and being planted, the 



