94 THE FLORIST. 



of the house ; choose a fine morning for watering the border, that the 

 superabundant vapour may be dissipated before the house is closed ; 

 and last, but not least, keep a vigilant eye for the most minute symp- 

 tom of mildew, and instantly check it by a timely application of 

 flour of sulphur, puffing it lightly on the atFected parts. In this 

 way the enemy will be vanquished. The " bane and antidote" are 

 both before you ; and by strict attention to the above simple rules this 

 otherwise destructive pest is no more to be dreaded than red spider 

 or green-fly. 



Windsor. J. W. L. 



A PLEA FOR AN OLD FAVOURITE. 



It cannot perhaps be said that Florists do not conform to the advice 

 conveyed in the song, that 



" 'Tis well to be off with the old love 

 Before you are oa with the new ;" 



but they certainly are very fickle in their loves, and can scarcely be 

 said to even have an old one ; so that the transfer of their afl'ections 

 becomes a matter of small moment, and little remorse can arise from 

 it in the bosom of the most sensitive of the craft. To-day admi- 

 ration is exhausted in gazing on some new candidate for favour ; its 

 form, its hue, its general contour is perfection. To-morrow, how 

 are its glories fallen ! eclipsed, outvied, thrust in the back-ground, 

 neglected, forgotten. Again does novelty succeed novelty, only to 

 push the former from its stool ; yet each succeeding favourite during 

 its brief reign, like that wondrous animal the last-born, is " the finest 

 ever seen." And so 'twill be to the end of time. 



But I am forgetting my "old favourite ;" Fuchsia corymbiflora I 

 mean ; a plant worthy of a post of honour; but having been allowed 

 to love it for a season or two, is now 



" Neglected and forgot." 



Yet what a fine plant it is ! Look at its noble foliage, its large 

 corymb of splendid flowers ! Who does not admire its noble bearing, 

 a very aristocrat amongst plants ! But not as one generally meets 

 with it certainly. To enable it to develope its real beauties, it must 

 be grown as a standard ; and when it has attained the height which 

 it is washed to attain, it must not be allowed too much liberty at the 

 roots. The ordinary treatment which others of its race receive is all 

 it requires. Any cool out-of-the-way place will suit it in winter 

 when at rest. The conservatory is its proper home when growing 

 and when in flower ; the most showy of the occupants then will not 

 be disgraced by companionship with it. 



G. L. 



