THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



195 



appears not to have beeu in common use 

 then, though probably it existerl. Tlie first- 

 named variety I have met with, Grimes' 

 Privateer, is still cultivated, and is usually 

 among those that get a prize at MIddleton, 

 having been preferred in a judgment of 

 "points" or '• properties" (very unsoundly 

 as I think) to Lancashire, when the latter 

 was shown by Robert Lancashire as a seed- 

 ling in 1846. 



Even ill 1827, when I first made ac- 

 quaintance with tills florists' flovver, at the 

 nursery of a grower in Sunbury, who com- 

 monly carried ofif the cap at the London 

 shows, the gree.i-edged section were in- 

 cluded in this class, and only separated by 

 their position in it, like the wranglers and 

 senior optimes of the early Cambridge tri- 

 poses. The separation of the two classes, 

 though in particular specimens more fan- 

 ciful than real, and therefore more ofren 

 objected to, is a sound one, and, no doubt, 

 will henceforth maintain its place. 



But why is it that this older class is in 

 every dealer's catalogue the less numerous? 

 And why is it, seeing it is the less perfect 

 form, that the highest-priced flowers are 

 almost always found in it, and that the 

 average prices are higher ihan in any other 

 section? Tliese facts at first sight seem 

 out of due order, and yet Aviien examined 

 they admit of a fair explanation. Being 

 .the oldest and first-formed class, it has had 

 more time to evolve its perfection, and the 

 best specimens of the cultivated auricula 

 ought to be looked for in it ; and conse- 

 quently inferior novelties would be less 

 tolerated. Besides which there will be a 

 tendency in raisei's to look for green-edged 

 seedlings as the higher form, and to thrust 

 up into that class productions that as grays 

 would not be wortii notice. I know of no 

 doubtful edge except Lancashire in which 

 this is not conspicuous. Lancashire might 

 liave been called a green edge ; it is more 

 so than Sir John Moore. But it is too in- 

 trinsically excellent to hide its only imper- 

 fection by a device. 



Nevertheless, it is by no means easy to 

 find a score — is it to find a dozen? — first- 

 class flowers, even in this section. Lan- 

 cashire, if you can get the edge gray, would 

 rank first in properties, first, indeed, of all 

 auriculas. Maria, in every case, will be 

 first in beauty. This year with me it was 

 second to none in any respect. The colour 

 I find, by careful comparison, is pure vio- 

 let; but; either from its substance, or trans- 

 parency, from reflection, or from some other 

 cause, its tint seems to differ from every 

 other in the floral world, and to be superior 

 to them all. I hardly know how imagina- 

 tion could paint anything more exquisite 



than my plant was this year, and I only 

 regret it was not in bloom early enough to 

 ex'iiibit in London. What is to come next ? 

 Mr. Lighthody will have it his namesake 

 ought to be placed bef ire these two. Per- 

 haps I misht accede to its standing next to 

 them. What then ? None to be named 

 singly. But there are many that come be- 

 hind" in a ruck, and very respectably up 

 too; Dickson's Duke of Cambridge, when 

 it has an edge not swallowed up into the 

 body colour; Sophia, the same; Dixon's 

 Lady Jane Grey; Fletcher's Mary Ann and 

 Ne plus ultra; Ligiitbody's R. Deadly and 

 Sir C. Napier; Dickson's Unique, when 

 large enough; Maclean's Unique, always. 

 After these come Smith's Boliv:ir and Cap- 

 tain Barclay, Headly's Superb, Sykes' Com- 

 plete, Waterhonse's Conqueror of Em-ope. 

 Tiien, at a respectful distance, but still not 

 distanced, Barlow's Morning Star, Grimes' 

 Privateer, Headly's Stapelford Hero, Hedges' 

 Britannia, Kent's Victoria, Pearson's Bada- 

 joz, Warris' Union, Willmer's Squire Chil- 

 man, Beeston's Fair Flora, Buckley's Sur- 

 prise, Holland's Village Bride. Bone's Per- 

 fection I know not where to place, as I have 

 never seen it in character. There are a few 

 others equal to these last, but not many, 

 and I do not grow them. It is in this class 

 you see the largest proportion of varieties 

 with broad and flattened lobes or petals, 

 making a bold and circular pip, and with 

 pure edges, and therefore it miist be deemed 

 to have made the nearest approach towards 

 its perfection, althorigh its three best speci- 

 mens are all of very recent date. 



The selfs are the last class, and till very 

 latelj' were least in esteem. At present 

 they arc attracting as much notice from 

 connoisseurs as they alwaj's have from the 

 uninitiated ; and that from their intrinsic 

 merit rather than from an advance in the 

 goodness of modern varieties, for the ad- 

 vance has been less rapid than the great 

 increase of late in the number of named 

 selfs would lead us to suppose. Martin's 

 flowers are numerous, and were little 

 thought of at first; nor are any of them, 

 except Mrs. Sturrock, an improvement upon 

 their predecessors. Spalding's flowers had 

 the luck to come in somewhat later, when 

 more inquiries were made for selfs, and, in 

 consequence, they obtained a place beyond 

 their real merits. They are all good, but 

 none of them are a real improvement in 

 properties upon what were grown twenty 

 years ago. Campbell's Pizarro is an ad- 

 vance, having the stiff petal and brown 

 colour of Spalding's Mary Gray, with the 

 advantage of a perfectly flat and circular 

 pip, and exact proportion in the parts ; and 

 therefore it may be pronounced the nearest 



