THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 345 



witli certainty, that trees of fine character, both as to growth and leafage, capable 

 of withstanding without hurt the influence of smoke and dust above, snd excessive 

 drainage below, which, generally speaking, render tree-life impossible in cities, are 

 obtainable from amongst the number of trees commonly planted in parks and gar- 

 dens. We need not wait, therefore, for the discovery of irees suitable for planting 

 in cities, if the planting of trees in cities is a inatt--)r about which we are practically 

 anxious. Some other agreeable and encouraging certainties may be discovered, but 

 we pass them by, in order to notice two that are disagreeable and discouraging. It 

 is an unpleasant certainty that the municipal mind, if there be sucli a mind, or the 

 municipal wisdom, if there be any wisdom in municipalities, is in the main dead set 

 against city trees. May we take the liberty of saying that all town councillors, 

 vestrymen, churchwardens, and other local governors, are a desperately dead set 

 when they deadly set (as they do) their faces against trees as proper and necessary 

 embellishments of architecture, and extremely proper and necessary (and natural) 

 filterers of the atmosphere in places where smoke and dust prevail? AVell, without 

 waiting for permission, we feel compelled to say that local self government has not 

 succeeded in securing in its behalf the sort of talent it requires. Perhaps, as talent, 

 generally speaking, cannot, any more than coals, calico, and candles, be obtained with- 

 out pay, the main mistake of the existing system is that local governors are unpaid, 

 and so place and power are only sought as the means of securing influence which may 

 be indirectly rendered profitable. But let us name the second unpleasant certainty, 

 rather than indulge in speculations. It is just this — that many pretenders to a 

 knowledge of the subject have brought it into disrepute. Local authorities, wishing 

 to encourage the rus in tirhe^ have called in a nurseryman or landscape gardener, 

 supposing, of course, that such a person would know all about it; and to him has 

 been entrusted the business of selecting and planting a plot of ground which he was 

 no more qualified to touch for horticultural purposes than might be, and probably 

 would be, the man in the moon. It is quite natural that the municipal mind, being 

 under a permanent cloud, with little learning and less judgment to guide it, should 

 suppose the man who writes over his door "nurseryman and florist'' must know all 

 about this subject. The mistakes that have been made — and paid for — in the City 

 of London alone, should sufiice to prove that the municipal mind in this particular is 

 liable to error. There are persons who have studied this subject in all its bearings 

 for years, and who would plant the streets of cities with trees that would live and 

 thrive, in spite of smoke, and dust, and drainage ; but, as the municipal mind is 

 dark, we must expect it to be the victim of delusions ; and, so long as the institu- 

 tions of local government continue as they are, experiments in city gardening Avill 

 be few and unsatisfactory, and the dread of falling leaves and cirops of water will 

 suffice to keep in their present treeless state the widest roads and finest open places 

 in all our great towns and cities. X paid representation is the first necessity in the 

 reform of local institutions. — The Gardener s Magazine. 



PUIS'CH AND SUN'SET. 



^OW short, and thick, and stumpy, you are I declare : look at me, how- 

 tall and graceful I am!" said a Scarlet Geranium to its neighbour, a 

 new comer, as they stood in the sunshine of a conservatory one fine 

 May morning. 



"Don't you like me?" said the stranger, a slight change spreading 

 over its beautifully-coloured leaves, for it had been a great favourite where it had 

 come from, and was not accustomed to be &o plainly spoken to. 



"No, indeed, I do not ; why, you are broader than long, and you colour up so, 

 if a few drops of water fall upon you." 



"That is my gratitude ; I do that to say Thank you, for I dearly love water ; 

 but you, why, what long leggy branches you have, and such poor puny duji leaves, 

 not half enough to keep you warm. I wish they had not placed me near you, for 

 I do not like your appearance. I feel ashamed of your condition; I suppose you 

 are too ; that is the reason youi- flowers are so vivid. Why, they even throw a glow 

 upon your leaves." 



" Tiiat deep colour in my flowers is my beauty. I am proud of it; it is the very 

 thing for whicli I am prized. I have heard many a one tay that of all flowers, they 

 loved me best. But you, why you have no flowers !" 



