A FEW WORDS ABOUT ROSES.

NOTHING in floriculture has marched so rapidly and steadily onward as an improved and common-sense taste for Roses. It is only a few years since all the gardening world used to talk of the 2000 varieties of Roses grown by the Messrs. Loddiges; and happy was the amateur who could beat his rival by a score or two of varieties; I mean, varieties in name and not in fact. In this we had, with our usual national weakness, copied our neighbours the French, who will even now say to their English visitors, Ah, Monsieur! have you seen my new Rose?—la voilà!” and then you will have pointed out to you a seedling from La Reine, with an accidental stripe on each petal; or a seedling from Madame Laffay, with smaller flowers than its parent: then takes place the following dialogue:

English Florist. These are of no use, Monsieur; they are not distinct enough.

French Florist. Monsieur, distinct! they are new.

E. F. New or old, they are of no use, I tell you have you a scarlet La Reine, or a yellow one, or a white Madame Laffay?

F. F. Monsieur, c'est impossible; but stop! I have fine new Roses from La Reine, all superb! Voilà Perpetuelle, Coupe d'Hébé.

E. F. Why, your seedlings are all pretty, but they are not distinct enough. But at what charge do you propose to sell these seedlings? for although of nearly the same colour as their parent, I should like one or two, if not too dear.

F. F. Monsieur, they are new. What a horrible word is that "distinct" of yours; I pray you do not use it. But for my seedlings I must have a high price, as I will deliver to you all the property in them; let me see, for No. 1 you must give 100l.; for No. 2, 1251.; for No. 3, 150l.

E. F. Stop, stop, Monsieur! I will not give you one hundred shillings for your "propriété;" they are not distinct enough.

F. F. Monsieur, what a horrible word! it kills me.

And so, as usual, not only with Roses, but with many other matters, the quiet cool Englishman sees through his lively brother.

When I commenced this, I was going to illustrate the improved taste in our culture, by observing that amateurs are not now content with mixed beds of Roses; all our finer sorts are planted in masses: thus, in some Rose-gardens formed this season, the beds are made to contain from fifty to sixty plants each; in olden times, these would each have had fifty varieties, forming a patchwork of colour; now they are arranged so as to form masses of distinct colours. Thus, No. 1 is Baronne Prevost; No. 2, Doctor Marx; No. 3, Madame Aimée; No. 4, Géant des Batailles, and so on: now these crimson and blush and rose-coloured large groups must have a fine effect.

We are still too much inclined to copy our neighbours, and to have our catalogues burdened with too many names. In some of our English catalogues are more than one hundred varieties of hybrid Perpetual Roses; and in the French catalogues one hundred

and fifty of the same family. Now from forty to fifty sorts of this very interesting and beautiful group will give us every shade of colour and every variety of excellence. Let us be severe, and use our heavy English common-sense, by naming and describing such Roses as are really worthy of culture, and not be taken by new names, but keep to those only that are good and-oh, horrible word in a Frenchman's ear!-distinct.

If the readers of the Florist have honoured our essays with a perusal, and will call to mind what has been said in preceding papers, it will be evident that the pursuits of the gardener have an important influence on national welfare and happiness. If floral tastes counteract worldliness; if they bring before us the way in which our Maker allows us to be fellow-workers with Him; if they produce refinement of manners; if they teach faith and confidence in God; and, lastly, if they promote goodwill and kindness among all the classes of society who cultivate them,-they must surely be important agents in producing national well-being. Those political economists who rate every thing by a money-value may demur to this conclusion; but it will be admitted unreservedly by those who believe that the number of well-regulated minds in the body politic constitute its real greatness. If it were possible to make all members of the higher classes amateur gardeners, and all mechanics and labourers cultivators of some little plot of ground which they could call their own, who does not see that a higher grade would at once be occupied by society at large? What dissipation would be avoided, and how many elevating and gentle thoughts and affections cultivated, if all thus took an interest in flowers! It is well known that savings-banks are the best security we have against popular outbreaks, because they keep men's own acknowledged interests on the side of peace and quiet. To some extent also a generally diffused taste for gardening has the same result, by attaching a value to home and home pursuits. Among the poor, the beneficial results of horticulture are more perceptible, because they have but little time to spare, so that this taste, when possessed, is a certain safeguard against debasing associations and pleasures. We have, before, guarded remarks of this kind, to prevent its being thought we are weak enough to think gardening is a specific for every social malady, a panacea for all ills. Alas, how often is the contrast most dark and deep between the innocence and purity of a flower, and the bosom which wears and cherishes it! What we do say, without fear of contradiction, is this: Floriculture has a direct

tendency to promote industry, temperance, and thoughtfulness; and therefore, however numerous may be the exceptions, it has an important bearing on national prosperity and happiness.

But this conclusion is correct in a more material and commercial sense; for gardeners are experimentalists and discoverers, the consequences of whose skill are made to bear on that extended agriculture on which this country's welfare is so dependent. With some exceptions, it will be found that improvements in field operations have had their origin in gardens, where, on a small scale, various modes of growth are tested, and their relative value decided upon. Hybridising, for example, has been practised very extensively by the Florist, with results most unexpected and extraordinary; and there can be no doubt that the great crops which are the staff of life are capable of similar development and improvement by the same means. It is sufficient just to glance at this topic, to suggest a variety of probable improvements, which the agricultural interests will in time avail themselves of, having their origin in the labours of the more humble gardener.

We have now brought our task to a close, and with it has arrived the end of another year. Can the readers of the Florist hesitate to say that the time spent in the service of Flora, or the more laborious cultivation of a general garden, has not been misspent? We trust that many of the higher influences of these pursuits which we have indicated, have fallen gently like refreshing dew upon the minds of many since the year began; and that through the new period of time which will soon commence, our readers will enjoy all the entertainment and derive all the instruction which the flowers of the garden and the field are capable of affording.

HENRY BURGESS.

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NEW AND FIRST-RATE PELARGONIUMS.

I AM glad that you have drawn attention to the system of exhibiting the " new and first-rate Pelargoniums;" and you have certainly made it very plain that none but new and first-rate varieties should on any account be exhibited. Your suggestion of sending plants to Mr. Cock or Mr. Staines for specimen-growing is excellent, and would, if acted upon, be of great assistance to the majority of amateur growers; for, owing to the high prices and the uncertainty of many "notorious flowers," few now think of purchasing until they have been out three seasons, when those sent out at a guinea and a half or two guineas have dropped down to about 2s. 6d. or 3s. 6d., and something more than mere hearsay is known about their various pretensions.

In your remarks you say that Delicatissimum was shewn by you twice: this I find, on a careful examination, to be correct; but Blanche only appears once, though it may have been staged at the Surrey shows, none of which have been fully reported this last season. Besides these two, our statements seem to agree pretty well.

In reply to your request, I must inform you that I have applied

to about forty celebrated Pelargonium-growers for the names of the twelve very best varieties, and also the twelve best suited for general and exhibition purposes; but I fear the replies will reach me too late for giving you the result for this month's Florist, but it shall certainly be forwarded in time for the January Number. Without wishing to disparage the productions of other raisers, the almost total absence of Mr. Hoyle's flowers from the Exhibitions of the past season (see list at p. 254) quite confirms me in stating that the most of them are very finely bred, yet few of them are well fitted for general and exhibition purposes, for which Beck's, Foster's, and Lyne's, have been so long celebrated. ORION.

"NEW AND FIRST-RATE VARIETIES OF PELARGONIUMS."

WILL you give me space to make a few observations touching the Pelargonium, suggested by your remarks in last month's Florist? You want the public to demand that all the new flowers sent out this autumn be seen next season in specimen plants ;" and you kindly furnish the names of two metropolitan exhibitors who are willing to grow and show for any raiser who does not himself exhibit. I conclude you mean they should be shewn in the collections. Now to this request I beg to enter my protest. It appears to me a much wiser plan that buyers of new flowers should demand to see a specimen plant before they be asked to purchase, and thus have a fair opportunity of judging whether the plant suits their taste or not; and it should be borne in mind, that the prizes offered for collections are for "specimens of superior cultivation;" and although something is said in the schedules of "new and first-rate varieties," I have never seen any attention paid to this point in making the awards; the only point apparently attended to is, which are the finest plants? I do not say it should be so, if the object be to test the merits of new varieties; but I do say, that to conclude that the winning collections contain the best flowers that have been raised, is to be misled, as I was myself often misled in the days of my simplicity. I give it as my opinion that such specimens are not needed to shew the quality of a new variety, nor are they the best from which to form a judgment. I should choose to judge from a plant of such size and growth as any ordinary cultivator can grow, in preference to one requiring some sixteen square feet of stage-room, the only merits of which frequently are, large size, well-trained form, and abundance of bloom. For such specimens a peculiar habit is required, and the absence of this peculiar habit is often the reason why new flowers, and good flowers too, are not shewn in collections; but it should not be forgotten that the principal requirement for new varieties is to improve the collections at home, where such specimens are neither desired nor desirable.

I cannot think you are quite correct in saying that Mr. C., or Mr. S., or Mr. Anybody, only require a well-rooted small plant in September or October, to make a plant fit to exhibit the following

June. I know that exhibitors generally are anxious, whenever they admit a new variety into their collections, to obtain an "old bottom,' if possible, as it saves a year's time; and my own experience convinces me that many sorts do not produce blooms in perfection until two years' old; and I am confident many sorts are condemned the first season, which, had they been tried another year, and received justice in growing, would have been highly admired.

Many sorts, and particularly the high-coloured ones, are liable to have the colour discharged from the margin of the petals. I believe this disfigurement to arise, or at least to be aggravated, by watering the plants, when in bloom, in the evening. I would recommend all such to be only watered, when in bloom, in the morning; and I prefer this time of day for that operation in all stages of their growth.

As you have referred to my flowers, and the opinions expressed of them, I may be permitted to say, that in whatever terms of praise the "several publications" you refer to may have spoken of them, they have at least been perfectly unbiassed. I am not one of those

who write "reports" upon their own flowers.*

I have pleasure in expressing my testimony to the fidelity of the figures of Ocellatum and May Queen; they are, I think, as near to nature as I have ever seen coloured plates of Pelargoniums. The side petals of May Queen are made to cover too much of the top petals; but that may have been the case with the blooms forwarded to the artist. I do not participate in your opinion that no great advance has been made the last two years; the two " novelties" you have kindly figured "without pecuniary advantage," I beg to remind you possess what you have recorded as the first point in the Pelargonium; and, I think, with Ajax, Ocellatum, May Queen, Nonsuch, Celia, &c. I have no reason to feel disappointment, or join your lament; I think we have plenty of room for progress, and have confidence in the capabilities of the Pelargonium to command a large share of public patronage for long to come.

One point more, and I close these already long observations. All my flowers, with one exception, sent out this autumn, have been shewn at the two principal metropolitan exhibitions, many of them three or four times; and I think often enough to warrant their being sent out, whether they get into the collections next season or not. Reading, Nov. 15th, 1850. G. W. HOYLE.

We have

[We act in this case as we wish to do in all others. stated our opinion, and Mr. Hoyle has done the same; it is now for our readers to draw their own conclusions. We have often expressed it as our judgment that there are beauties of colour yet to be obtained in the Pelargonium, of which we have scarcely dreamt. Its popularity must continue, for we have no plant in cultivation to take its place.-SUPERINTENDENT.]

*We insert this reflection, believing our friend Hoyle levels it at ourselves; had it been at another, we should certainly have suppressed it, for we highly disapprove of insinuations of all kinds.