it is a great enlivener of our gardens, which, at the latter season, are but scantily provided with gay flowers.

Cowper has, with many other fine plants, also noticed the broom:

Hypericum, all bloom, so thick a swarm

Of flowers, like flies, clothing her slender rods,
That scarce a leaf appears; mezereon too,
Though leafless, well attired, and thick beset
With blushing wreaths, investing every spray,
Althea, with the purple eye; the broom,
Yellow and bright, as bullion unalloyed,
Her blossoms.

THE French have made this plant the emblem of ornament, from the splendid effect produced by its judicious training in the

These gar

hands of De Notre, in the gardens of Versailles. dens," says Mr. Philips, "which cost Louis the Fourteenth between eight and nine hundred thousand pounds sterling, are well calculated to display courtly pomp, and that kind of magnificent revelry, which this monarch indulged in. But to us this heavy grandeur appears more gloomy than the thickest forest, except when the alleys and walks are crowded with company, and the waterworks are in full action. Then every beholder must be struck with the splendour of the scene, which the dress of the French ladies is particularly calculated to improve; for the gayety of their costume relieves the sombre appearance of the trained hornbeam and clipped elm. Their light gauze, gay ribands, feathers, and flowers, substitute blossoms; for, while one seems to display a basket of roses on her head, others carry nodding thyrsuses of lilac, or waving laburnum; and with the mixture of poppies, nasturtiums, and sùn- ̧ flowers, with which they are bedecked, you forget that the trees are without blossom, for here you see the gay ranks of scarlet soldiers, and there files of green elms; here wave the winged leaves of the acacia, there bows the no less pliable head of the courtier; here dances the jet-d'eau in air, there drops to the earth the well-taught courtesying belle; here monsters spout out water to cool the air, while flattery as abundantly sends forth her streams to refresh the vain. In one spot we see the proud officer flaunting round the brazen image of Venus, while the opposite angle shows the sentimental dame reclining on the pedestal of Mars, or Jupiter. Agricola, a German author, says this scene gave him a foretaste of Paradise."

She binds not her luxuriant hair
With dazzling gem or costly plume,
But gayly wreaths a rosebud there,

To match her maiden-bloom.

F. S. O.

ORACLE.

DANDELION.

LINNEUS has given the dandelion a deserved place in the hor ologe of Flora. It is one of the plants that may be most certainly depended upon as to the hour of opening and closing its flowers.

The flower, if we well examine it, we shall discover to be fully as handsome as the fine garden anemone; and it only needs to be as rare, to be prized as much. This plant blossoms early in the spring, and continues through the summer.

Thine full many a pleasing bloom
Of blossoms lost to all perfume;
Thine the dandelion flowers,

Gilt with dew, like sun with showers.

CLARE.

The dandelion flower is used for Love's oracle. If you are separated from the object of your affection, gently detach one of these transparent spheres; each little feather that composes it is charged with a tender thought. Turn toward the spot inhabited by your beloved; blow softly, and every little winged traveller, like a faithful messenger, shall bear your secret homage to her feet. If desirous of knowing whether the object so dear thinks of you now you are absent, blow again, and if there remain one tuft, it is a sign you are not forgotten. But the second charm should be done with care; blow very gently; for at any age, even at that age which is most congenial to love, it is not well for our peace that we should too rudely disperse the pleasing illusions which embellish life.

Miss Landon wrote some very beautiful lines on seeing an illustration of the garden-scene in Goethe's Faust, where Mar

P

garet plucks a starlike flower to divine the real sentiments of her lover. They are called, "The Decision of the Flower "

And with scarlet poppies around like a bower,

The maiden found her mystic flower;

"Now, gentle flower, I pray thee tell

If my lover loves me, and loves me well;

So may the fall of the morning dew

Keep the sun from fading thy tender blue.
Now I number the leaves for my lot-

He loves not he loves me- - he loves me not--
He loves me-yes, thou last leaf, yes -
I'll pluck thee not, for that last sweet guess!
He loves me!"-"Yes," a dear voice sighed,
And her lover stands by Margaret's side.

PARENTAL LOVE.

CINQUEFOIL.

IN rainy weather, the leaves of this plant incline themselves over its flowers, forming a kind of canopy, or parapluie. It is gratifying to see a tender mother watching with anxious care the unfolding of a beloved daughter's mind and character.

When love rejects and friends forsake,
A parent, though his heart may break,
From that fond heart will never tear
The child, whose last retreat is there.

ELLEN FITZARTHUR.

PEACE.

OLIVE.

To thee the heavens, in thy nativity,
Adjudged an olive-branch, and aurel crown,
As likely to be blest in peace and war.

SHAKSPEARE.

THIS tree has been celebrated in all ages as the bounteous gift of Heaven, and as the emblem of peace and plenty. Peace - wisdom concord - clemency-joy- the graces - have ever been crowned with olive.

The dove sent out of the ark by Noah to ascertain if the waters were assuaged, returned bearing a branch of olive, as a symbol of that rest which Heaven was about to restore to the earth.

The sinner placed a verdant spray
Within her dead child's hand,
And turned, in wordless grief, away –
A lost one- barred and banned!

In that fond act were prayer and vow—
Oh! be her guilt forgiven!

Her dovelet bears an olive-bough,

To make her peace with Heaven.

F. S. O.