NONE of our familiar garden flowers exemplifies more pleasingly than the daisy the ready compliance of nature with the requirements of art. As the field daisy appears mingled with the rough herbage that is already forward for the scythe, it is wanting in the characters that constitute a proper garden favorite. It is beautiful indeed, with its pink-tipped buds, and its silvery rays and golden disc; but in that simple form it fails to satisfy the taste that would adopt it as a domestic flower. And so the florists have improved it; or, if the term "improved" is objected to, we will say they have modified it in accordance with their notions of the necessary properties of a garden daisy. The yellow disc has been abolished; the flower is enlarged to twice or thrice the size of the original; the form is that of a hemispherical cushion, consisting of closely-set florets, the colour white, rose, red, crimson, or purple. Moreover, the substance of the flower has been so much augmented that when removed from the plant it will, with but little care, continue fresh and beautiful for several days, while the wild daisy would, as a cut flower, be unattractive in the first instance, and would perish almost immediately after removal. The flower-garden affords opportunity for many studies of the influence of man over the forms of nature, but we shall find few examples so striking as the one before us, and none that surpasses it in directness of appeal to the ordinary vision. It needs no philosopher to see the difference between a single and a double daisy, but the conversion of the one into the other may very properly fill the mind with surprise and delight.

There are in our gardens many double daisies of remarkably fine quality, and they are singularly useful when planted out in open breezy places, more especially in the northern counties. In a town garden they do not display their characters in a satisfactory manner; they become "weedy," and very often the roots are destroyed by ground vermin. But in a country garden, more especially on a sandy soil, and in a situation exposed to keen winds, these double daisies are, in their way, invaluable. They may be planted to form solid masses of colour, and they will flower continuously from March to August, the growth being exceedingly neat, the flowers large and brilliant, and borne on short stems, so as to sit, as it were, on the green bed formed for them by the small leaves. Where the soil is heavy, and there are walls and trees near at hand, they produce large leaves, and the flowers rise on tall stems, and a month or so is the utmost time of their continuance; and, at their best, they are but apologies for daisies, as compared with the rich and perfect bloom that may be seen in many a well-managed breezy country garden.

The variety figured for the present purpose is known in gardens as Rob Roy. It originated in the north, and fairly represents the class of double daisies that are now in favour as hardy bedding and border plants. There are at least a score of varieties differing in colour, and the equal of Rob Roy in quality. It may be well to name Snowflake, white; Eliza, purple; Crown, mottled; Rubens, red; and Conspicna, rose, as constituting a pretty and useful collection for planting a group of beds or to dot the common border with lively flowers. There are some curious daisies worthy of attention, such as the "hen and chickens," in which a full-sized flower is surrounded by a number of smaller ones. This was known to the old florists as "Jackanapes on horseback." But more useful than this is the aucuba-leaved variety, catalogued as Aucuboefolia, the leaves of which are richly blotched and veined with yellow on a ground of lively green, and the flowers rich deep red or pure white. This needs pure air and a sandy soil to keep its place in the garden, and where it thrives it increases rapidly, and is exquisitely beautiful.

The Continental florists have given more attention to the daisy than any of our compatriots. The late Louis Van Houtte, of Ghent, was particularly partial to the flower, and encouraged the production of new varieties, his catalogue, twenty years since, enumerating over twenty sorts. Many of these have become established in the English nurseries, and are obtainable at prices so low that a country garden may be made glorious with daisies for a very trifling outlay. Town florists who have a faney for these flowers would do well to obtain a few of the best sorts, and give them a fair trial during one whole year. If then satisfied with them, they may purchase and plant freely, and be well rewarded for their pains.