February 9, 1895. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
377 
SNOWDROPS. 
The turn of the season has once again brought with 
it the familiar form of this dear old friend, which, 
regardless of the inclemency of the weather which it 
often has to face at the commencement of the season, 
boldly pushes up its pure white flowers to the light, 
gladdening our eyes with its beauty and cheering our 
hearts with the thought that although spring may not 
yet have made her presence felt in earnest some of 
to its intrepidity in braving the unkindly breath of 
early spring. 
Without doubt a great deal of its popularity is 
due to its early flowering season, for it is very certain 
that if the Snowdrop made its appearance at any 
other time of the year it would not have been so 
extensively noticed and honoured and would not 
have excited into action the talent of the painter and 
the spring poet (if it is admitted that a " Spring 
Vanda caerulea. 
states that Galanthus nivalis is found " in woods and 
shady pastures in central and southern Europe 
extending eastward to the Caucasus and northward 
into central Germany. In Britain, probably not 
indigenous, but long cultivated in cottage gardens 
and now perfectly naturalised in many parts of 
England, and here and there in Ireland and 
Scotland." Whether indigenous to this country or 
not, there can be no doubt but what it has long been 
her children have at least begun to make their 
appearance. We question very much if there is any 
flower indigenous or exotic that enjoy so large a 
share of popularity as the Snowdrop. That much 
to be pitied individual " the Spring Poet" with his 
proverbial long hair, his wild appearance, and still 
wilder ways, takes his first inspiration, or in other 
words catches his first severe attack of the poetic 
frenzy, from the humble Snowdrop with its nodding 
downcast pure white flowers. All classes combine 
to.hail its appearance from the frozen earth, and all 
unite to do it honour and render it the homage due 
Poet ’’ has talent) to the extent it has done. As tbe 
summer advances there are scores of more brilliantly 
dressed subjects that in their magnificence of beauty 
would utterly over-shade and eclipse the modest 
dress of the lowly Snowdrop. But coming as it does 
long before the Swallow dares, it has acquired for 
itself an imperishable name and fame. These early 
children of spring possess in their modest way a 
charm that does not attach itself to the more 
gorgeous flowers of later spring and summer. 
With regard to its natural distribution “ Bentham ” 
in his Illustrated Hand Book of the British Flora '• 
an occupant of our woods and forests as well as a 
cultivated plant in many an old-fashioned garden, 
which would not be complete without a few clumps 
of Snowdrops any more than a caricature of our 
greatest statesman would be perfect without the 
well-known huge pointed collar. 
It is more than probable that its presence in an 
apparently wild state in different parts of the 
country is due in the first instance to the labours of 
persons with a taste for the naturalising of suitable 
plants, probably individuals who, falling in love with 
its beauty, sought to decorate their estates or 
