"It affords me immense pleasure to fix upon a wild-rose in a hedge,
and graft upon it red and white cultivated roses, sometimes single
roses of a magnificent golden yellow, then large Provence roses, or
others variegated with red and white.
"The rivulets in our neighbourhood do not produce on their banks these
forget-me-nots, with their blue flowers, with which the rivulet of my
garden is adorned; I mean to save the seed, and scatter it in my
walks.
"I have observed two young wild quince trees in the nearest wood; next
spring I will engraft upon them two of the best kinds of pears.
"And then, how I enjoy beforehand and in imagination, the pleasure and
surprise which the solitary stroller will experience when he meets in
his rambles with those beautiful flowers and these delicious fruits!
"This fancy of mine may, one day or another, cause some learned
botanist who is herbarizing in these parts a hundred years hence, to
print a stupid and startling system. All these beautiful flowers will
have become common in the country, and will give it an aspect peculiar
to itself; and, perhaps, chance or the wind will cast a few of the
seeds or some of them amidst the grass which shall cover my forgotten
grave!"
This was the end of the chapter, and then there was a vignette, a very
pretty one, of a cross-marked, grass-bound grave.
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