15B HERBACEOUS GARDEN 
that I well remember when a child, and which, 
up to a short time ago, had eluded all my 
efforts to find it again. 
Some of the flowers known to our fore- 
fathers as long ago as 1662 were very beautiful. 
In a picture by Van Verendael painted in that 
year, and now hanging in the New York 
Museum, all the flowers except the hyacinth 
are as fine of their kind as anything we grow 
now. Among them are some large red and 
white carnations with a fringed edge, poppy 
anemones, Florentine iris, white and yellow 
jasmine, auricula, ranunculus, rose (pink 
cabbage and white Madame Plantier), blue 
hyacinth, scilla, scabious, honeysuckle, red 
and white tulip (like Zomerschoon), double 
daisy, Althea frutex (white and red), and a 
large-flowered yellow buttercup. I wondered 
rather how tulips, scillas, and auriculas could 
be found in flower at the same time as Althea 
frutex , yellow jasmine, and carnations, but 
possibly this is painters’ licence. In the same 
way Zola dared to use flowers of spring, summer, 
and autumn in his wonderful description of 
the flowers that the girl in “ 1 ’Abbe Mouret ” 
heaped on herself, to die under the weight of 
their perfume. 
To return to our gardens of distinct species, 
