IMPROVEMENT OF WILD FLOWERS. 
119 
IMPROVEMENT OF WILD FLOWERS. 
I was much pleased with an article on British Orchideas, con¬ 
tributed by a correspondent a few months since ; and an anxious 
desire to extend the subject, and if possible excite some interest 
on the question, is the animus which directs me on the present 
occasion. We have abundance of proof of what may be done, 
by assiduous perseverance and properly directed skill, in the 
case of the several portions of the vegetable kingdom denomi¬ 
nated “Florists’ flowers;” then why may not the same amount 
(or less) of attention produce like results in that portion indi¬ 
genous to our country. It seems (to me at least) to be almost 
a reproach on our boasted “love of our fatherland/’ thus to 
neglect its native beauties; and I, as an individual concerned 
in the progressive improvement of all that concerns it, am deter¬ 
mined henceforth to use my strongest exertions to effect some¬ 
thing in the way proposed ; and as there may be others actuated 
by a similar desire, I will briefly mention a few of our wild 
flowers that, in my estimation, are likely to be found manageable 
subjects, that will gratefully return compensation for the atten¬ 
tion given. It is not necessary to travel far for subjects, or to 
look into a catalogue for outlandish names ; they meet us at j 
every turn, and are visible on nearly every bank or the margin 
of every stream. Our Snapdragons are already yielding to the 
influence of cultivation, as is shown by the figures given in the 
Journal last March : and why should not the Wallflowers exhibit 
the same propensity ; a purely white one w T ould be most desirable, 
and to this colour they seem naturally inclined. The beautiful 
little Campanula rotundifolia , an inhabitant of nearly all com¬ 
mons or waste lands, is another promising plant, that has already 
with me attained at least double its usual stature, both with 
respect to its altitude and the size of its flow T ers; and then the 
lovely little eye-bright, Euphrasia officinalis , what a charming 
object it would present if somewhat larger I The Rose Cam¬ 
pion, Rest Harrow, Yarrow, Foxglove, some of the Asphodels, 
the Wild Thyme, Mullein, Periwinkle, Fumitory, and a variety 
of others may be enumerated as worthy of a trial, to say nothing 
of our Heaths. Would that we could impart the hardiness of 
our native species to plants with the splendid inflorescence of the 
well-known exotic kinds ! However, any direction to be given to 
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