Flowers and Gardens 



— partly to render the excellences of the 

 Yellow Crocus shape more striking by 

 the contrast, and partly to illustrate the 

 general principle that what in one work 

 of Nature seems less perfect as compared 

 with another, is generally only made so 

 as the means of developing some peculiar 

 kind of utility or beauty, with which 

 higher excellence would be incompatible. 

 We by no means think that what is best 

 in the Purple Crocus must come from the 

 gardener, or that it is necessarily seen at 

 best advantage when contrasted with its 

 White and Yellow congeners. We admit 

 at once that it gains here in outward 

 splendour. But it frequently happens 

 that what is dearest and deepest in any 

 flower is best seen when that flower is 

 observed alone. Each generally contains 

 in itself sufficient elements of contrast, 

 and needs no others to assist them. And 

 so we shall find it here. In the first 

 place, the Purple Crocus differs widely 

 from the Yellow in expression. The 

 latter is seen to best advantage at noon- 

 day, in the clear warm sunshine. It is 

 bright, animated, cheering — our heart 

 leaps up" as we behold it. This active 

 character seems to demand a greater 

 vivacity in the curves, a vivacity which 



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