made to the dotted lines at some
of the open turns in the engraved labyrinth. By some accident or mistake
the dots have been omitted, but any one can understand where the stop
hedges which the dotted lines indicated might be placed so as to give
the wanderer in the maze, additional trouble to find his way out of it.

[Illustration of a garden.]

ON FLOWERS AND FLOWER-GARDENS,

For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the
flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is
come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

_The Song of Solomon_.

* * * * *

These are thy glorious works, Parent of good!
Almighty, Thine this universal frame,
Thus wondrous fair; Thyself how wondrous then!

_Milton_.

* * * * *

Soft roll your incense, herbs and fruits and flowers,
In mingled clouds to HIM whose sun exalts
Whose breath perfumes you, and whose pencil paints.

_Thomson_.

A taste for floriculture is spreading amongst Anglo-Indians. It is a
good sign. It would be gratifying to learn that the same refining taste
had reached the Natives also--even the lower classes of them. It is a
cheap enjoyment. A mere palm of ground may be glorified by a few radiant
blossoms. A single clay jar of the rudest form may be so enriched and
beautified with leaves and blossoms as to fascinate the eye of taste. An
old basket, with a broken tile at the top of it, and the root of the
acanthus within, produced an effect which seemed to Calimachus, the
architect, "the work of the Graces." It suggested the idea of the
capital of the Corinthian column, the most elegant architectural
ornament that Art has yet conceived.

Flowers are the poor man's luxury; a refinement for the uneducated. It
has been prettily said that the melody of birds is the poor man's music,
and that flowers are the poor man's poetry. They are "a discipline of
humanity," and may sometimes ameliorate even a coarse and vulgar nature,
just as the cherub faces of innocent and happy children are sometimes
found to soften and purify the corrupted heart. It would be a delightful
thing to see the swarthy cottagers of India throwing a cheerful grace on
their humble sheds and small plots of ground with those natural
embellishments which no productions of human skill can rival.

The peasant who is fond of flowers--if he begin with but