102 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE, 



altering and improving, but, I am sorry to say, made it very little better ; for it 

 leaks now, much faster than I wish. But that is not all ; the furnace don't 

 draw properly ; more heat and smoke rush out of the furnace-door than 

 along the flue. The mason came to see it, after the seventh time of ask- 

 ing, but cannot alter his own bad work. I am out of heart with it altogether, 

 for it takes nearly all the day to get anything like a heat there, aud the smoke 

 rushes out between the bricks of the flue both in the forcing and the greenhouse, 

 which has killed several of my best and most favourite plants. Would you 

 believe it, the smoke rises to within two feet or so of the top of the chimney, 

 and there remains in a dark thick mass, as obstinate as a pig. It is a bad job, 

 and I don't know how to make it better," concluded my friend, looking at 

 me like " patience on a monument smiling at grief." 



Of course I could not but sympathise with him on his misfortune, for a mis- 

 fortune it really is ; and if any of the numerous readers of the Floraj, World 

 can help him out of his difficulty, I am sure he would receive it as a great 

 boon. 



However, after hearing his tale, I could not help telling him, that, when he 

 was about having his house built, he should have beguu at the beginning " In the 

 first place, you should have managed to have seen some one else's house, which 

 would give you an idea how to build your own. Then, having fixed upon the 

 sort of house you'd like, you should have had an estimate from two or more 

 competent persons to build your house by such a time, for so much money. 

 Then you would have known the exact cost of your house before the founda- 

 tion-stone was laid. And it would be the builder's place, nay, he would be 

 bound to finish his work in a proper manner before you paid 3-our money." 

 This same hint may be of service to others, whether they are about building 

 greenhouses for their pets, or dwelling-houses for themselves. Their first step 

 should be to " begin at the beginning." 



M. W. 



THE GREAT NATIONAL ROSE SHOW, 1858. 



Does any rose grower now remember the year 1820, or the time preceding it? Can any 

 one call to mind our gardens bafore the angel of improvement overshadowed them with his 

 transparent wings ; when roses bloomed for a fortnight or so and vanished ; when Spong's 

 was the favourite for forcing, De Meaux and the Moss for ladies' bouquet?, the Tuscany 

 for the border, Maiden's Blush and the Cabbage for a cottage garden, and when the rag- 

 ged Four Seasons was sold for half a guinea? Can he call to mind how the China rose 

 remained unalterable on the trellis of the wayside villa, Semperflorens was nursed in a 

 greenhousp, and Lawrenceana was the petted of all lovers of the tiny '? In those days, 

 already fading away in the midst of antiquity, standard roses were unbegotten, pot roses 

 were by practical men thought impossible, and as for a rose house, we should as soon have 

 thought of building a conservatory for oaks and fir trees. And yet how dearly was the rose, 

 loved even then ; hundreds of briars were collected, catalogued, and even painted ; a new 

 French rose, a C.irmine biillante, or a Couleur de feu was a world's wonder, and every body 

 went to " Lee & Kennedy's " to see it. What should we s.iy were our gardens to be sud- 

 denly restored to the dominion of Rosa damascene, gallica, and centifulia? Happily that 

 triumvirate of Queens is dead, and such as remain have dropped to the veriest plebeian 

 rank ; handsome, no doubt, but of the peasant class. 



As far as we remember, the little Scotch rose was first taken under the patronage of im- 

 provers, and the old catalogues (that is of 1820-5), contaiued the names of many a now 

 forgotten fair one. They were pretty things, no doubt, but their beauty quickly faded ; we 

 could not afford to cherish favourites whose charms vanished as quickly as revealed ; and 

 so Scotch lassies were set aside. Then came the first attempts at crossing with the ever- 

 blooming Chinese ; the result was instantly successful ; breeders saw they had struck a rich 

 vein, floral nuggets rapidly turned up, and from that time forward the field of roses has 

 become a field of cloth of gold. 



