138 THE FLORIST. 



There are some of these kinds so finely and distinctly circumscribed 

 with a black or brown circle round the bottom, and so differing from 

 the other pures, that one would think they made a fourth sort ; but 

 to have them long in bloom in perfection, care must be taken that 

 the soil they are planted in be not too wet ; they therefore must be 

 watered with care and prudence ; for by means of too much moisture 

 that beautiful black or brown ring is often destroyed and imbibed 

 in the other colours, and renders that flower insupportable, which 

 otherwise would raise admiration in the nicest judges. These flowers 

 are seldom so large or thick leaved as the other pures ; but then their 

 brilliant appearance on the stage makes full amends for their want 

 of size. 



Man is insatiable, and always wishing : I am not able to decide 

 whether this be really a fault or no ; but if it be one, the florists 

 are guilty in a superlative degree. The pures, the flakes, and the 

 bizarrs do not sufficiently gratify him. The dark- coloured, the 

 transparent, or milky, might, one would imagine, give him full satis- 

 faction. No, he still craves more, to wit, that which is shaded ; and 

 possibly this kind of pure, as desirable as it appears to him to-day, 

 will not please him to-morrow. I say this kind of pure ; for you 

 see even the pures divided into three classes, two of which I have 

 described. I proceed now to give you a just idea of the third. 



Those fine dark velvet pures are said to be shaded (ombrces in 

 French) when the brown or black colour communicates itself from 

 the middle of the flower-leaf in such a manner towards the edge, 

 as to make it (the eye) appear perfectly clear. These are the finest 

 flowers in the world ; such, for example, are Le Feu Ombre, Le Feu 

 Tingresse, Le Panebroeck, Le Panerock, or Reine Elizabeth. 



But it seems as if nature had taken great pains to produce them, 

 for these are not very large. Well ! am I not myself one of these 

 insatiable creatures ? I possess many of these kinds of pures ; I 

 admire them, but would have them larger : once again, the florist 

 is never to be satisfied. 



OF THE FLAKES, OR STRIPED AURICULAS. 



These flakes, or striped Auriculas, have all their partisans, but 

 they do not absolutely hold the first rank. Nevertheless they are 

 highly valuable when they are glossy and look like velvet, when their 

 stripes are clear, and neatly divided from the bottom to the edge of 

 the flower ; the stripes are always either white or yellow ; the whiter 

 the stripes are, the finer ; if yellow, the more like gold, the more 

 agreeable. The bottom ought to be perfectly round, and not any 

 ways angular, lest it should so fall out, that the stripes, mixing with 

 the bottom, would render the flower very disagreeable, if not insup- 

 portable. 



Though some authors that have treated of flowers have attributed 

 these stripes to the want of sap, and others to the weakness or sick- 

 ness of the plant, yet it may be observed, that many of these striped 

 Auriculas are as large, and even more so, than others of the most 

 colours. 



