22 



TO COllRESPONDENTS. 



LA BELLE ASSEMBLE. 

 Spoken by Mr. D. V. Cole, late Honorary Secre- 

 tary, at tlie Dinner in celebration of the second 

 cxhitiition of tlie East LoiKioii Amateur Clirj'san- 

 themum Society, at Albion Hull. 



Old Lontlon'3 streets, as legends say, 

 Are paved uiih i.'old this many a day ; 

 So none need wonder whrii they are told, 

 O'er London reitrns the Hower of Gold. 



All hnnds proclaim her queen of Flowers, 

 Sydenham s Halls, P'ersailles'* gay bowers ; 

 Then listen all, while I rehearse, 

 Half Salter's catalogue in verse. 



That beauteous flower of charms supreme, 

 That bears the name of England's Queen, 

 Came at her Eastern subjects' c.ill, 

 And held her court at Albion Hall. 



How shall I all the glories tell. 

 That m.ike her court the Nonpareil ; 

 There Beauty smiles, a lovdy Gem, 

 And Justice leans on T/temis' stem. 



And courage shines in Mars' red glow. 

 And purity in V-sfa's snow ; i 



There wealth is saf« in Plutus' care, | 



And truth gleams from Etoile Polaire. 



Her standard, which no blot could sully, i 



Be;\rs the proud motto " Ce'lo nulli ; " ' 



'Twas borne with i<teps thut never falter, ; 



By Ensigns Bob and Alfred Salter. i 



Her maids of honour near her wait, I 



Dark Cassy, relicate Miss Kate, ' 



Gay Annie Salter, fair Hermine, : 

 And fjold-hair'd Jitith, and bright Christine. 



Australia's treasures, I am told. 



Have deck'd her throne with Cloth of Gold, I 



To guard her /'ea/7 white robes from stain, \ 



Fair Aimie Feri ie.re held her train. i 



A Brilliant group of Dames from France, 

 Mesdamis Lebois and Fould advauce, 

 And Madame Comerson was there 

 With the brave General Ctinrobert. 



A Cardinal, but not Irom Spain, 

 Hau lirought, ■aith Presidmt Decaisne, 

 The Mystic Rose from Pio Nona, 

 Altho' our Queen's no Papist — oh, no ! 



Dupon' de I'Eute, whose haughty look, 

 Defiance bid to King or Dulse, 

 And — never tell his wife ihe tale — 

 The' Hilene flirts with Mr. Dale. 



To tell the glories of the Queen, 

 Would task the Courtly bard Racine, 

 But Salter sa\ s that she'll appear 

 In Golden Robes another year. 



D. T. C. 



•In allusion to Versailles Nursery— Salter's 



Boors and Catalogues Received. — We have 

 received a copy of the new edition of "The 

 Orchard House, " by Mr. Rivers, which we shall 

 notice at length next month ; also, a " Catalogue 

 of Flowers, Koots, Plants, &c., for 1859," grown 

 by Carey Tyso, Florist, Wallingford, Berks. 

 This contains a complete list of Mr Tyso's seed- 

 ling ranunculuses, which we believe to be the 

 finest collection of that flower in this country ; 

 also, lists of stock varieties of ranunculuses, 

 anemones, tulips, geraniums, pinks, carnations, 

 dahlias, &c., <fec.— " Descriptive Catalogue of 

 Show Gooseberries," grown for sale by J. Hlllier, 

 nurseryman, St. Martin's, Marlborough. Mr. 

 Hillier evidently possesses an extensive stock of 

 show gooseberries, and the catalogue is well 

 arranged. — " Sutton's Spring Catalogue and 

 Amateur's Guide, for 1859," from the celebrated 



firm of .button and Sons, Reading. In addition 

 to well-arranged lists of kitchen, flower, and 

 Hgricultural seeds, interspersed with hints on 

 cultivation, ar.d the securing of successional 

 crops, this work contains several useful articles 

 on the formation of lawns, the culture of the 

 Chinese yam, Chinese sugarcane, frr-.. andagood 

 calendar of garden work. The - seed Cata- 

 logue " is so arranged, that customers can write 

 against the names of articles the quantities they 

 require, so as to save the trouble of copying out 

 a list, and, at the same time, avoid every possi- 

 bility of mistake. These works are sent gratis 

 to customers, and to strangers for six stamps. 



Fbiends and Well-wisuers. — The ordinary " puf- 

 fing " resorted to by new journals— of which they 

 get ashamed when established— does not consist 

 with our views, else we might occupy a few pages 

 with the eulogiums that have been showered in 

 upon us, since the publication of the " Garden 

 Oracle," and the completion of the first volume of 

 the "Flobal World." We will, however, just 

 keep our modesty in check to produce one short 

 letter as a sample — "We, the undersigned, have 

 great pleasure in thankimr you for the useful 

 information we have received from your excel- 

 lent work of the present year, and we also 

 tender our thanks to Mr. Shirley Hibberd for his 

 most excellent work on ' Garden Favourites. 

 Yours respectluUy, Messrs. Bell and Barrett, 

 gardeners to J. Wilson, Esq., Kewark, Notts." 

 Gallantry would have prompted us to select one 

 of the many s^eet-scented, and prettily written 

 missives of approbation, received from lady cor- 

 respondents, but their praises, are, generally, too 

 enihusiasiic for admission to our pages. We 

 have every desire to deserve a continuance 

 and extension of such esteem, and all we ask of 

 those who wish well to the " Floral World " 

 is, that they will make it known amongst their 

 friends, and so. by increasing our circulation, 

 place us in a position to deal liberally with our 

 suiiscribers. 'This is a good time for new sub- 

 scribers to commence. 



Su-VEB-sAND.— r. H. Simms. — What we London- 

 ers call silver-sand, is a fine white sand, of a 

 very sharp gritty nature, obtained from pits, and 

 the sort we prize most is that from Reigate, 

 known here as '" Reigate silver-sand." Fine sea- 

 sand will do to take iis place where sharp pit- 

 sand is not obtainable ; but before U'lnc it, it 

 should be thrown into a tub and covered with 

 water, and the water changed several times to 

 wash the salt out of it. It will then uo for 

 many ot the purposes to which sea sand is applied 

 in gardening. In making composts for hya- 

 cinths, sea-sand need nut be washed, for they 

 like a little salt. One point we would urge on 

 our readers generallj', in reference to the various 

 qualities of sand in different parts of the country 

 — namely, the sorts prized by gardeners, are 

 those of a sharp gritty nature, free from lime 

 and iron; sand that may be squeezed into a 

 tenacious lump, is altogether untit for mixing 

 with composts — it should consist, not of powder, 

 but of distinct grains of grit, so that it cannot 

 adhere together when moistened. 



Beds Gay in Winter. — Lilian. — You may make 

 all your beds and borders gay by means of small 

 plants of Araucaria imbricata, Aucuba japonica, 

 Thuia aurea, Berberis aquifolium and Darwinii, 

 Abies pumila, silver and gold striped Euonymus, 

 variegated box, striped -leaved rhododendron. 

 Erica carnea and Hybernica, common-leaved 

 laurel and sweet bay, with Arabis a'pina, wall- 

 flowers, Christmas rose, rock alyssum, and tufts 

 of Festiica glauca and heterophylla. All these 

 are to be had of any nurseryman at low prices, 

 and may either be planted with good balls, to be 

 removed when the bedders are ready, or, if in 

 pots, plunged just deep enough to hide the rim, 



