MAY, JUNE, JULY, AND AUGUST. 89 



most satisfactory variety is Dobbie's Double Spiral ; 

 the Eocket is also good, but it does not produce such 

 large flower-heads as the former variety. Candytuft 

 comes to us from Europe, and gets its botanical name 

 from Iberia, the old name for Spain. I have found a 

 very beautiful variety of the flower growing wild on 

 the rocky slopes of Gibraltar. There is a white pe- 

 rennial variety called I. sempervirens ; I. Oihraltica 

 is the same under cultivation ; its flowers are white, 

 crimson, and rose-color. Some of us may be sur- 

 prised to learn that Gibraltar has an extensive flora ; 

 it is far from being a barren rock. In the short 

 climb up the path from the town to the fortiflcations 

 I picked as many as fifteen specimens of unfamiliar 

 wild flowers besides a dozen or so which I recognized 

 as old friends ; this was on the first day of March, 

 too ! Dr. Henry M. Field says : " Gibraltar is not a 

 barren cliflE ; its very crags are mantled with vegeta- 

 tion, and wild flowers spring up almost as in Pales- 

 tine. Those who have made a study of its flora tell 

 us that it has no less than five hundred species of 

 flowering plants and ferns, of which but one tenth 

 have been brought from abroad ; all the rest are 

 native." 



Sweet Alyssnm. Sweet alyssum is like mignonette 

 Alyesiim maritimum. in one respect — its qualities surpass 

 its charms. It has small, white, honey-scented flow- 



