TWO BOOKS OF VERSE. 
31 
regarded as a storehouse of information regarding seedlings, in which will be 
found minute descriptions of numerous types of the principal natural orders of 
plants. These descriptions are of course mainly technical, and any attempt to 
deal with them would be out of place in these pages. 
Our special object in calling attention lo this book is to point out to Sel- 
bornians a field of investigation in which, if there is not much left for them to 
discover, there is undoubtedly plenty to observe. It is one, moreover, suited to 
these earlier months of the year, when objects of interest are comparatively few ; 
it is open to all, and the collector as well as the observer will find pleasure in it. 
This is the observation of the seedlings of British and common garden plants, 
some idea of the variety of which may be gained from the cuts accompanying this 
article, for which we are indebted to the publishers of Sir John Lubbock’s book. 
Mrs. Brightwen, in her paper on “ Seedling Trees,”* directed attention to one 
aspect of the subject, but the observation and collection of seedlings in general 
opens up a much wider field, and will result in a great widening of knowledge of 
the early life of our plants. How few, for example, have ever seen the true leaves 
of the gorse ? Vet the young plants bearing these may be found under any furze- 
bush in the spring by anyone who will trouble to look for them. The yellow 
vetchling {Lathyrus Aphaca), figured on the preceding page, is another plant 
which only produces leaves in its early stage. 
Not only in our private but our public herbaria, seedlings are very slenderly, if 
at all, represented, and a good collection of them would certainly be a welcome 
addition to the National Herbarium at South Kensington. Anyone making 
such a collection for himself would find the seedlings easy to dry, and they would 
occupy but little space ; he would stimulate his powers of observation and increase 
his knowledge, and would probably soon accumulate sufficient information for a 
paper for Nature Notes. 
TWO BOOKS OF VERSE. 
These two dainty little volumes should have been noticed sooner. The first 
place is claimed by a lady who is an old friend and member of the Selborne 
Society. Her anthology of the robin was favourably noticed in our first volume 
(p. 43), and in 1890 we spoke at length in praise of her Lyrics. In A String of 
Beads (A. & C. Black, 4s. 6d. ) Lady Lindsay has given us some delightful 
“verses for children.” Whether we should have had this charming little book 
if Mr. R. L. Stevenson had never written his Child'' s Garden of Verses is a 
matter on which it is unnecessary to speculate ; if not, we owe one more debt of 
gratitude to Mr. Stevenson. 
.Selbornians will turn with most pleasure to the sections “ In the Garden ” and 
“On the Sea-shore.” Here are some verses from the former suitable to the 
season 
Poor pale Snowdrop, budding in the Spring, 
Ere the golden thrushes yet have learn’d to sing ; 
Poor pale Snowdrop, drooping, cold, and drear. 
Ere thy sister flowers on the earth appear. 
Sweet pale Primrose, blooming in the Spring, 
When the callow fledglings from the nest take wing ; 
■Sweet pale Primrose, who but holds thee dear. 
Coming in the springtime, the morning of the year. 
Pair pale Violet, given by the Spring, 
From the perfum’d South a message thou dost bring, 
Like a herald crying : See, the .Summer’s near ! 
And in her train the wild rose, queen-flower of all the year ! 
Nature Notes, 1892, p. 142. 
