nd thus graphically describes it: 'It riseth out of
the ground,' says he, 'with two small leaves flat and crested, of an
overworne greene colour, betweene the which riseth up a small and tender
stalk of two hands high; at the top whereof commeth forth of a skinny
hood a small white floure of the bignesse of a violet compact of six
leaves, three bigger and three lesser, tipped at the points with a light
greene; the smaller one fashioned into the vulgar forme of a heart, and
prettily edged about with greene; the other three leaves are longer and
sharp-pointed. The whole floure hangeth downe his head by reason of the
weak footstalk whereon it groweth. The root is small, white, and
bulbous.' It is one of the earliest flowers which appear, and may often
be seen bursting through the snow, the virgin white of its petals by no
means shamed by the lustrous purity of its cold bed. It has no calyx;
six stamens; the filaments short and hair-like; the anthers oblong, with
a bristly point, and one pistil, the style being cylindrical, and longer
than the stamens. The capsule, which is nearly globular, contains three
cells, in which are numerous globular seeds. It is found in orchards,
meadows, and the sides of hedges, and named from two Greek words
signifying 'milk' and 'a flower.'

And now we reach the orchard: but how am I to get in? There is nothing
for it but a scramble up that bank round the root of that old oak, whose
gnarled boles will afford me footing, and it will be easy to descend on
the other side; and so, with a few slips, I contrived to land in safety
among the long, tangled grass, and broken branches of apple-trees,
richly clothed with lichens, mosses, and fungi, in a spot which looked
as if untrodden by human foot for years. But that could not really have
been so, for no doubt the old trees had borne their usual crop of ruddy
apples, which had been duly housed. The value of an apple-orchard in
Devonshire--that land of delicious cider--is not a trifle, and our
farmers do not leave their orchards untrodden and uncared-for. This was,
however, sufficiently wild. But now for my snow-drops: there they wave
in thousands--

'Like pendent flakes of vegetating snow--
The early heralds of the infant year--'

in every stage of beauty, from the hint that a tiny spot of green and
white, bursting through the dark earth, might give, to the
fully-developed blossoms, hanging lightly on its graceful stalks, robed
in its vestal