42 THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



Nearly all the good things we now cultivate were novelties once ; and 

 if they had not been extensively tested by those willing to incur the risk, 

 must have passed out of culture along with thousands of other things that 

 were never worth it. It is absurd to pronounce a thing worthless simply 

 because it happens to be new, as it is also absurd to expect every new in- 

 troduction to be worthy of any higher rank than the kinds already 

 established in the class to which it belongs. Upon these points, some 

 strange fallacies are, nevertheless, prevalent, and the foundation of them 

 all is in that hasty generalization which the untrained mind has always 

 blindly followed. We remember receiving a very abusive letter from one 

 of our readers who had grown Princess of Prussia fuchsia at our recom- 

 mendation. We were charged with the most abominable motives for 

 having said a single word in its praise. We are too cautious in recom- 

 mending novelties, to have much to fear from this class of hasty denun- 

 ciators ; but we are well aware that the sophistry on which such denun- 

 ciation is based is far too common. The reasoning in such a case takes 

 this shape — " The plant has not proved good in my hands; therefore, it is 

 worthless, and should not be grown by anybody." Before we accept any 

 man's estimate of the value of a plant, we should require to be satisfied of 

 his ability to judge of its merits, and if his dictum is the result of his own 

 experiences with it, we should want to be assured if he knew how to 

 grow such a thing at all. It is not by individual testimony that any 

 plant is to be accepted as valuable, or cast aside as rubbish, but by the 

 united evidence of many competent persons, all of whom are disinterested 

 in all that concerns the commercial features of the case. For this reason, 

 it is the duty of all who desire to keep pace with an age of improvement, 

 and who wish also to improve the age, to test for themselves the merits of 

 new plants, and especially of those to which they are in the habit of de- 

 voting special attention. If all the growers were to wait till the character 

 of a plant was established before venturing to include it in their orders 

 for stock, it is evident that it would never be established at all. The risk 

 of failure must fall somewhere. Why should the many be privileged at 

 the expense of the few ? 



We make these remarks at a season when novelties are sent out in 

 more than usual numbers, in the hope of extending the sphere of experi- 

 mental gardening among those of our readers who possess the means and 

 facilities necessary for determining the relative values of new subjects. 

 The few, very few, traders who vamp up false characters, and indulge in 

 superlative terms of praise in regard to novelties, deserve not only dis- 

 couragement, but extirpation ; but it is far from just to visit upon the 

 trade at large the discredit that belongs only to a small and obscure 

 section. 



We the more gladly encourage amateurs to include in their lists a few 

 of such new plants as attract their attention, because, in looking over the 

 catalogues, we observe that there is greater caution used in descriptions, 

 and less heedlessness in giving guarantees. The merit of a seedling fruit, or 

 florists' flower, is not to be determined hastily, nor by a few isolated in- 

 stances of success or failure in its cultivation. A reckless race after no- 

 velties will not be indulged by any man possessed of proper caution, nor 

 need any one rashly invest money and time in the trial of new subjects 

 when there are plenty of established sorts to choose from. Make up j r our 

 mind to see many failures ; but be sure of this, no respectable house specu- 



