"For all that meets the bodily sense I deem Symbolical - one mighty alphabet For infant minds; and we in the low world. Placed with our backs to bright reality, That we may learn with young unwounded ken The substance from its shadow."

Few people, it is true, can make such use of these symbols as the poets have done to instruct others; but the power of discovering and enjoying these teachings from God's book of nature adds greatly to the pleasure of our work, and occupies the mind while the hands are employed "dressing and keeping" the garden. Many have no doubt enjoyed the evening in the open air, who yet would never for themselves have drawn the following thought from the closing up of our bright-eyed favourites, the daisies; and yet, when we do meet with such passages in the poets, we feel how much the idea suggested adds to the interest of the simple occurrences around us:-

"Observe how dewy Twilight has withdrawn The crowd of daisies from the shaven lawn, And has restored to view its tender green That, while the sun rode high, was lost beneath their dazzling sheen. An emblem this of what the sober hour Can do for minds disposed to feel its power. Thus oft when we in vain have wish'd away The petty pleasures of the garish day, Meek eve shuts up the whole usurping host, Unbashful dwarfs each glittering at his post, And leaves the disencumbered spirit free To reassume a staid simplicity."

By the time the weather permits the sitting out of doors just spoken of, most of our spring favourites will have passed away, and summer's fuller and more plentiful supply will have again appeared. It is a good thing to have plenty of common flowers, every-day favourites " Creatures not too bright or good For human nature's daily food " flowers that may be pulled, flowers suitable for nosegays, flowers that seem to grow better for having their blossoms gathered. This gathering of flowers for nosegays, either for one's self or one's friends, is such a pleasure, that I often wonder at its being so frequently deputed to the gardener. It is true that generally he knows best what to cut and how to cut, he can and does generally tie up a nosegay with an air about it that unprofessional hands seldom can give, and frequently he bestows flowers from greenhouse or garden that the owners thereof dared not have pulled; still it is a pleasure to most people to pull flowers and arrange them for themselves, and, with plenty of old-fashioned common flowers, it might be safely indulged in, and the garden be none the worse. Indeed, £ remember asking a gardener once some questions about the best season and mode of pruning roses, and the answer was, that he saw few rose bushes flower so well as those in his father's garden, where the blossoms were gathered daily for the market; they needed no other pruning than this, and were always covered with flowers. "There is that scattereth and yet increaseth;" this rule seems to apply well to a liberal spirit in our gardening, as well as in other things, so let no one grudge slips and cuttings, or nosegays to less favoured friends : indeed, one needs to have been a dweller in town at some period or other fully to appreciate the value of flowers. There are some kinds of flowers more suited for this free gathering than others - such as honeysuckle; common white, cabbage, damask, moss, and Chinese roses; pinks, at least when allowed to grow into large clumps; and wallflowers: and among annuals, mignonette and sweetpeas. Stocks. at least fine double sorts, are not very available for this purpose, and the single kind is generally despised as not worth culture; but it is even more fragrant than the double, and, from its branching growth, can be gathered without destroying the appearance of the plant, so it should be sown by all those who love cut-flowers; and even when growing, a bed of it is so deliciously sweet in the evening, that I often wonder it is not more cultivated. Rocket, or dame's violet, is another of the night-smelling flowers, and very beautiful and fragrant it is; the variety called French rocket has a lilac tinge in the flower, and a greater tendency to branch out than the pure white kind; they like a rich soil, and may be propagated by slipping off small pieces in August, or by diverting the roots. Its scientific name, Hesperis, has been given on account of its perfume becoming so much more powerful in the evening; its dark-roloured little relative, Hesperis tristis, has this peculiarity in a still more marked degree, without the queenly beauty of the Hesperis matronalis to recommend it by day.

"Mortal! bethink thee - if at close of day Both bird and flower their grateful homage pay, This in sweet odour, that in tuneful song, What thankful strains should flow from human tongue! Oh think what noble mercies crown thy days, Then be thy life one ceaseless act of praise! "

The evening hour in the garden is enjoyed by most people as a time of rest and quiet; and certainly after we have visited our floral friends, among whom we have been working during the day, and have enjoyed the sight of seedlings and cuttings refreshed with the evening's watering, there is much quiet luxury in sitting still, breathing the fragrance from birch trees and blossoms, and listening to the birds as, one by one, they cease their evening song, till at last the thrush alone is left, nightingale-like, to sing on till dusky twilight soothes even him to sleep. Now, however, begins one of the great pleasures of a garden to those who are lovers of natural history, even if as yet they scruple to arrogate the title of entomologists, and humbly call themselves collectors only. The watching for and capturing moths is the pleasure I allude to, and I fearlessly appeal to any who have tried it whether it is not a most fascinating occupation. Like angling, the charm of this does not lie alone in success, for night after night the hope of making some wonderful capture leads one on, and the patience of the angler is equalled, if not excelled, by the moth-hunter, as he watches and paces about for hours, forceps in hand, ready to entrap his prey. The pleasure of capturing a new specimen is great, so is that of getting hold of an insect newly out of the chrysalis, fresh and feathery; and, however grateful one feels to kind friends who give duplicates, and however pleasant it is to place such specimens in the blank space left for them in the cabinet, it is nothing compared to the delight of first securing a rare insect ourselves, or even of seeing one flying about that we have only known hitherto in collections. I can recall yet the feeling of pleasure experienced at the mere sight of the peacock butterfly hovering over and basking upon the flowers of the China aster; it is rare near Edinburgh, and yet, even to secure an undoubted Scotch specimen, I could not bring myself to make a prisoner, or put to death, our beautiful visitor. Moth-hunting may sometimes be successfully carried on indoors on a summer evening, the light in the sitting-rooms attracting them in at the open windows; but unless the lights are shaded by glass, the moths are apt to injure themselves so as to be useless as specimens - a consideration that seems to weigh very little with these infatuated insects.