214 The Wild Garden 



Those who wish to work at wild flowers should 

 get one of these lists, as on them may be at once 

 marked the kinds we have or want ; by their aid 

 in part we may exchange the Orchids of the Surrey 

 hills for the Alpines of the higher Scotch mountains, 

 and so on throughout the country. Every admirer 

 of British plants should have a manual, to aid in 

 identifying the species. Another aid would be a ' local 

 flora,' a list of the plants growing in any particular 

 neighbourhood or county; such, for instance, as the 

 ' Flora of Reigate,' Baine's ' Flora of Yorkshire,' and 

 Mackay's ' Flora Hibernica,' or the ' Cybele Hibernica.' 

 We will next turn to the plants, beginning with the 

 natural order of Crowfoots. The Crowfoot order is 

 the order which brightens the moist hollows in the 

 spring with the glittering of the lesser Celandine, the 

 meadows in May with Buttercups ; when ' those long 

 mosses in the stream' begin to assume a livelier 

 green, 'and the wild Marsh Marigold shines hke fire 

 in swamps and hollows grey.' ' Those long mosses 

 in the stream' of 'The Miller's Daughter' are the 

 Water Crowfoots that silver over the pools with their 

 pretty white cup-like blossoms in early summer ; and 

 it is the same family which burnishes our meadows 

 with a glory of colour not equalled by any tropical 

 flowers. But in considering British plants from a 

 garden standpoint only, we can only seek those that 

 are worthy of garden culture, and certain to reward 

 us for giving them a place in the garden. 



