In his letter to Apollinaris, Pliny the younger gives us a charming description of the garden surrounding his villa in Tuscany. From it we derive nearly all the knowledge we have of the Roman viridarium. We see " the trees topiaried in every conceivable form, the tall planes enjoying a borrowed verdure from the ivies twining around their trunks, and in their inner walks we are greeted with the perfume of roses." For the next fifteen centuries we get unsatisfactory glimpses of rural occupation, either in field or garden. In mediaeval romances the garden is frequently painted - but always as the background for tender lovers, or for social intercourse and out-door recreations. Birds innumerable flit to and fro in these pleasure grounds, flowers burgeon and scent the air, and fountains throw their sparkling waters in the sunshine. In the "Roman de la Rose" one •of the most famous of these gardens is described. Chaucer never tires of dwelling on the "beauté of the gardyn." But beyond the songs of birds and the scent of flowers, we know little of these earthly Paradises.

During the long night following the extinction of Roman civilization, agriculture could successfully be pursued only on lands belonging to monasteries. The husbandman who sowed could never be sure of reaping the harvest, and the condition of the adscripti gleboe was one of unmitigated misery. The nobility and the abbots united in laying extreme burdens upon him, though the latter did not disdain to share his burdens. Gervaise tells us that Thomas a Becket, even after he was Archbishop of Canterbury, used to go into the fields with the monks, and assist them in making hay and reaping grain; and from Bede we learn that Easterwin, abbot of Weremouth, guided the plow, winnowed grain, and forged instruments of husbandry on the anvil.

In his monogram on " English Plant Names,"

Professor Earle discovers traces of an old acquaintance with latin herb lore, and from it infers that the knowledge of Roman botany and medicine came into England with the Roman missionaries, and formed a natural accompaniment to their religious instruction. During the earlier centuries, the knowledge of the therapeutics was confined almost wholly to the monks; and in the capacity of surgeons they attended the Crusaders in their attempts to rescue the Holy Land from the hands of the infidels. To prayer, holy water, pilgrimages, touching of relics and other faith cures, they added a knowledge of the medicinal properties of plants. But while the flowers of the field entered into the monkish materia medica, the Fathers made strenuous efforts to keep them from entering into the religious worship of the Church.

In the ceremonial worship of the gods, flowers and trees, from remotest times, have played a prominent part. In the epopee of Izdhubar, Ea-bani consulted trees for oracles. From the Bundahis we learn " that every single flower is appropriate to an angel;" that " the myrtle and jasmine are Auharmazd's own." Flowers strew the pages of the Hindu epics; the Greeks and Romans used them profusely as religious offerings, while to the Scandinavian gods whole parterres of bloom were dictated. From their universal use in pagan worship, the Fathers forbade their entering into the service of Christ. St. Ambrose, in his funeral oration on Valentinian, says: "I will not sprinkle his grave with flowers, but pour into his spirit the odor of Christ." Tertullian says " that a Christian should rather suffer martyrdom than wear a garland," and in his work " De Idola-tria," he "calls on the name of God to witness that he knew a person who had been grievously chastised in a vision, because a servant, though without his knowledge; had crowned his door with flowers on a day of public joy." Clement of Alexandria tells us that is " not suitable to fill the wanton hair with rose leaves, or violets, or lilies, or other such blossoms".

But the instinctive love of flowers was too strong for priestly interdiction, and they soon took their appropriate place in religious observance.

There still exists a plan of the garden of the monastery of St. Gall, in which the parterres are marked, and the flowers to be cultivated designated in each. Long after the destruction of the sacristy, the flower garden, adjoining the Lady Chapel at Winchester, went by the name of Paradise; and, in the will of Henry VI, particular directions are left for the cultivation of "certaine trees and flowers behovable and convenient for the service of the church " of Eton College.

Montalembert has drawn charming pictures of the serene beauty and tranquility of these monkish gardens, frequently set in the midst of untamed woods and mountains, and commanding nearly always the view of sparking waters in river or lake. The Benedictines and Cistercians were pre-eminently the gardeners of the middle ages; and to them are we indebted for the preservation of many of the old-time floral favorites - anemones and flowering almonds, marigold and wall flower, and many others equally dear, brought, long ago, by pilgrim monks from distant Syria. Even if there were no records of monkish gardens, the saintly names given to herbs and flowers would be all-sufficient proof of monkish gardens. The angelica - in old German called root of the Holy Ghost - Grimm tells us was revealed in a dream. Du Bartas calls it the "happy counterbane, sent down from Heaven by some celestial scout." The Laplanders crowned their poets with it, believing it endowed them with a divine afflatus. The Lamium album, from its heavenly virtues, was, Parkinson tells us, called archangel; the Geum urbarium, herb benedict, because the Devil could not endure its presence; and, from the legend that it stanched the blood of the Saviour in His last agony, the Verbena officinalis was called herb of the cross.

The Scabiosa succisa received the popular name of Devil's bit, because when deprived by the Virgin Mary of his power to use the root for evil, in spite he bit off the end, and it has never grown again. - In Independent.

But, above all other flowers, the Virgin claims the incense of the lily and the rose, types of purity and love. It is said that, when the unmarried men of the lineage of David assembled to woo the Virgin, their rods were placed in the temple, with the understanding that the owner of the rod found budded should be her husband; and that of Joseph alone was found covered with lilies. After her death, the doubting apostle Thomas refused to believe in her ascension; but on the opening of the tomb it was found full of lilies and roses, and, on looking up, Thomas beheld her in her flight to the heavenly hosts, and she threw to him her girdle, to insure his faith.

In the Golden Legend, a lily is said to have grown out of the grave of an ignorant knight, who could only be taught to say Ave Maria. On every leaf was the invocation in letters of gold, and, on opening the grave, the root was found to have grown from the faithful knight's mouth. A similar story is told of an idiot boy of Brittany, who lived under a tree in Auray, and who could never be taught more than the repetition of the words "Ave Maria" and "Salaun is hungry." When he died, the neighbors, thinking him soulless, buried him beneath the tree where he had lived. But the Virgin in rebuke, caused a lily to grow out of the poor boy's grave, every leaf of which was stamped with Ave Maria in letters of gold. A chapel now adorns the place, in which is the shrine of Salaun the Simple, and the idiot boy, as a popular saint, insures tender reverence for those who possess a soul, if not a mind.

From their association with the Virgin, lilies were thought to confer maternity on women, without other aid than the mere eating of them, and a vase 'of these flowers became the symbol of motherhood. Bede uses them as an emblem of the Virgin's resurrection, the pure white petals sweet as her own spotless body, the golden anthers within typifying her soul, sparkling with divine light. The fourth King of Navarre, in memory of an image of the Virgin found in the heart of a lily, and which cured him of a dangerous disorder, instituted the Order of the Blessed Lady of the Lily. In 1403, Ferdinand of Aragon, in honor of the Virgin, instituted an order of knighthood, called the Order of the Lily, whose badge was a collar composed of these flowers.

Most frequently is the Virgin designated as Santa Maria della Rosa. Dante says :

" - Here is the Rose Wherein the Word Divine was made incarnate".

She is the Rosa mystica. Old Sir John Mande-ville tells the legend of one who had "gathered much goods of his lord's," approaching a wood where thieves were gathered, and as he knelt to say "Our Lady's Saulter," the Virgin came and placed a garland on his head, and "at each Ave she set a rose in the garland that was so bryghte that all the wood shone thereof," and the thieves turned back, leaving him unharmed. In the sixth century, St. Medard, bishop of Xoyon, in honor of the Virgin, established the Fete de la Rosiere, at which the maiden who was irreproachable was crowned with a chaplet of roses and given a purse of three hundred francs. Interrupted at the Revolution, this beautiful fête day was reinstated in 1812, and is still yearly observed. The rosary was instituted with direct reference to the Virgin, St. Dominic having been shown a chaplet of these flowers by the Holy Mother, and in commemoration, real roses were used as corresponding to the joyful, sorrowful, glorious mysteries. In the twelfth century, Isobart, a pious monk, while worshipping at Our Lady's shrine, fell dead, and from his mouth, eyes, and ears roses sprang.

Mediaeval art is strewn with flowers from the garden of Our Lady. In pictures of the Annuncia tion, Gabriel presents the Virgin with the lily, the Fleur de Marie; sometimes the olive is substituted; more rarely the palm. In the Visitation we see her in the garden of Zacharias, where, it is said, she once touched with her finger a scentless flower, and immediately it emitted the most delicious perfume. In the flight to Egypt the palms bent to offer shade to the Mother and Child.

It has been difficult to keep within the borders of Our Lady's 'Garden; for, outside, are other gardens rich in religious, poetic, and mythic associations; gardens of the Saviour and the Saints; lovely parterres dedicated to Iranian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Scandinavian and American deities. In whatever geological age man first appeared, flowers were already blooming to welcome him. The study of primitive culture and folk lore has revealed to us the awe, the honor and the adoration in which the floral world was held; and, though flowers have lost the prestige of the possession of magical powers, the magic of their loveliness will never fade, and, the profounder the intellect of man, the more tenderly will they kindle in him, "thoughts that lie too deep for tears." - In Independent. Norton, Mass.

Virgin's pinch is so called because Our Lady left the impress of her fingers upon it; the rosemary flowers, in joy at the Passion of our Lord, because she spread the infant's linen over it to dry. Broom and chickweed are compelled forever to rustle, because, in her flight with the infant Jesus, they betrayed her to the soldiers of Herod; and she was rescued by the juniper opening its arms and concealing her; and, in honor of this act, the Italians even now use the latter to decorate their stalls at Christmas-tide. The Polypodium vulgare is said to have sprung from the Virgin's milk. The purple flowering lady's thistle had its leaves beautifully diversified from the same source. She blessed the sage, and it was call officinalis Christi. The little star-flower, known as Our Lady's bed-straw, has its romantic legend. When the different plants were summoned to form a couch for the Mother and Child in the stable, they all made various excuses, until this modest flower offered itself, and was rewarded by having its snowy petals turned to gold.

The Magyars believe that every kernel of wheat needs only to be split in the center to disclose the impress of the Virgin and Child.

The flowers that in classic mythology and Scandinavian folk lore blossomed for Venus and Holda, under monkish direction, were transferred to the Virgin. The rose was sacred to the northern maternal goddess; she was affectionately termed Frau Rose and Mutter Rose; but when the Virgin Mother usurped her place she became Marien-roschen. Holda blessed and guarded the flax; but to the German maiden of to-day it is Unser Frauen Flacks; to the French peasant, lin de Notre Dame. So Freyja-jargrass became lady's tresses, and Niord's glove (Spongia marina) lady's hand. The maiden hair fern, sacred to Venus, became Mariengrass; the Matricaria parthenium, devoted to Minerva, the herb of the blessed Mary.

The clematis, from its " shady covertures in the garden " was called lady's bower; the clustering blossoms of the pink thrift, lady's cushion; the primula, lady's candlestick; the Scandix pecten, lady's comb; striped grass, lady's garters; quaking grass, lady's hair; white-flowered wormwood, lady's smoke; Campanula hybrida, lady's looking-glass; hare bell, lady's thimble; Cypripedium, lady's slipper; the fuchsia, lady's eardrop; dodder, lady's laces; briony, lady's seal; Alchemilla vulgaris, lady's mantle; the glistening drops that sparkle on the sundew and the lily of the valley, lady's tears. In fact, all flowers are dedicated to Our Lady, but pre-eminently those bearing any fancied resemblance to the human body.

In France, the beautiful veronica is called les yeux de la bonne Vierge; the spearmint, menthe de Notre Dame; the Italians calling it erba santa Maria; the Germans, Frauenmiinze. With the latter, campanula is Marienglockchen; costmary, Frauenbalsam. In Tuscany a little plant, with tiny flowerets of whitish rose color, is known as Madonna's herb, and on Ascension Day, when plucked and hung on the walls, will frequently flower, when it is regarded as a special manifestation of Our Lady's pleasure.

Among the fruits, the cherry is dedicated to the Virgin. The legend tells us that Mary longed for some of the fruit, and when Joseph, in answer to her request, told her to call upon the father of her child, the branch immediately bent within her reach. The strawberry, once Holda's, is sacred to the Virgin. In the Tyrol they have a folk tale of a boy and girl picking strawberries, when the Virgin, clad in shining raiment, appeared to them. The little girl rose respectfully, but the boy, true to his Gargantuan instincts, kept feeding on the luscious fruit. The Virgin gave each a golden box. From the girl's there flew an angel, who bore her up to Heaven, while two great black worms came from the boy's, bearing him away into the black forest.

The rose of Jericho is the rose of the Madonna, the Arab designating it Kaf Maryam - Mary's hand. The early pilgrims to the Holy Sepulcher asserted that, wherever Mary and Joseph rested in their flight, this rose sprang into bloom. It was thought to ease the pains of parturition by its very presence; and not only in the East, but in Italy and Germany, women placed it by their bedsides. Sir Thomas Browne, in his "Pseudodoxia Epi-demica," gives some very curious information regarding this flower.

Many of Our Lady's feast days have particular flowers consecrated to them. At the purification, February 2d, the snowdrop takes the place of her image on the altar, and in her honor is called the fair maid of February. There is a charming folk tale connected with this flower. When Eve, expelled from Paradise, roamed, broken-hearted, over the barren earth, and the snow fell cold and silently, an angel breathed upon a downy flake, and bade it bud and bloom. Before it touched the ground, Eve saw it, and her heart grew light, and she loved it better than all the brightest blossoms of Eden. Then, as the angel vanished with the assurance that this flower should ever remain the harbinger of sun and summer, where his feet had touched rings of snow-drops formed.

To the Annunciation, March 25th, belong the marigold, almond and narcissus. It is said that the Virgin always wore the marigold on her bosom, and that it blossomed at all the feasts held in her honor. The French peasants think that if it be touched on Annunciation day by the bare foot of one whose heart is pure it will impart a knowledge of the language of birds. A branch of the almond formed the miraculous rod of Aaron, that budded, flowered, and fruited in the temple; while the narcissus, the daffodil of which Rob Herrick sings so enchantingly, holds an honored place in myth and song. Lady's smock, the chemise de Notre Dame of the French, becomes "all silver white" on this feast day. Its little flowers resemble dainty smocks spread out on the deepening verdure of the spring meadows to bleach. It is called the cuckoo flower, because, as old Gerard tells us, "it flowers when the cuckoo doth begin to sing her pleasant song without stammering." At the feast of the Nativity the Virgin's altars are decked with the amellus, long used in the worship of Roman divinities, while at the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, the arbor vitse, type of immortality, holds conspicuous place. - Independent.