THE FLORIST. 291 



effectiveness, to which I am here confined, are few ; nor is it intended 

 fully to discuss these, for a reason that will be afterwards adverted to. 

 The observations I have to offer will class themselves under colours 

 in general as such, and on the juxtaposition of two or more on the 

 same grounds. 



1. With regard to colours in general, the preference of one 

 before another arises, for the most part, from causes of which I do 

 not treat; for each has, intrinsically, an equal right to admiration. 

 Much belongs to individual taste, much to accidental circumstance, 

 such as rarity ; and these, as not reducible to rule, are beside the 

 present purpose. A blue Dahlia, or a scarlet Pelargonium, may be 

 worth a hundred guineas ; but the value is accidental, not essential, 

 and belongs to the philosophy, not of the flower, but of man. There 

 are, however, a few intrinsic qualities, according to which colour 

 seems necessarily effective, or the contrary. I shall mention but 

 two, applicable equally whether the flower in which they are found 

 is self or party-coloured. The first is brightness ; by which I mean, 

 neither a higher nor a deeper tint, the value of which is purely con- 

 ventional and a matter of taste, but the opposite to the flat and 

 washy appearance often seen in petals of thin substance, as if it were 

 fading, and somewhat similar to what in art would arise from a too 

 thin coat of paint. Possibly it may sometimes be connected with 

 the epidermis alone being the seat of colour; because, if you look 

 closely into the bell of a good light-blue Hyacinth, the colour, how- 

 ever light, will appear to penetrate the entire fleshy substance of the 

 petal, and will be as bright and lively as the deepest tint could be. 

 All the rays of its colour are reflected back to the eye, and not ab- 

 sorbed and lost, as many of them are, in the dull, thin, and watery 

 colour of some of the old (not Chinese) Hollyhocks of twenty years 

 ago. Byblcemen Tulips, when narrowly examined, are seldom entirely 

 free from this fault. The other quality is distinctness ; by which 

 term I mean, not the impossibility of mistaking at first sight whether 

 the colour in question be a blue or a violet, a rose or a pink (for, on 

 the contrary, I think such indescribable shades of colour as are best 

 to be found in the Rose form one of the highest charms of that 

 peerless monarch of the garden), but such an individual (may I use 

 the word idiosyncratic?*) distinctness, as when once well seen and 

 felt will ensure its being distinguished from others. Without this 

 it would be equally impossible to discriminate between 2000 varieties, 

 and useless to cultivate them ; for a colour that excites no cor- 

 responding and pleasurable idea is worthless. Yet colours of this 

 objectionable and meaningless kind are not uncommon, and often 

 partially intrude into some of our best varieties, as in the Catafalque 

 Tulip, and others, — as if for a stimulus to the raiser still to press 

 on for something nearer his idea of perfection. Seedling or breeder 

 Tulips often are of a hue that seems hardly to be classed as a colour, 

 but rather as a negation of colour. " Foxy" Auriculas and Poly- 

 anthuses are of this class Iota. 

 [To be concluded in our next Number.] 



• Peculiar to its own composition. 



