366 THE FLORIST. 



at and ridiculed, but an inch he would not budge. ' That is what they 

 ought to be ; nay, more, that is what they will be,' he said. And was 

 he not right ? He did well to make a high standard, and we must feel 

 that we, as florists, owe him much. But what has all this rigmarole 

 to say to Brooke ? Just this ; that there lives one of a class to whom 

 we are still more indebted, who saw what was wanted, and who worked 

 to obtain it. I mean the amateur florists ; who, taking up some 

 particular flower, have toiled earnestly to improve it, and well nigh 

 brought it to perfection ; and when I say that at Brooke resides George 

 Holmes, Esq., the raiser of Cherub, Lollipop, Lord Palmerston, Flirt, 

 and other Dahlias of first-rate quality, all who have grown that very 

 fine autumn flower will readily recognise him as one to whom they are 

 deeply indebted. I little imagined, when going to that parish to see my 

 old friend the vicar, that I should meet with one there who is so well 

 known in the floral world, or that I should have the pleasure of making 

 his acquaintance. 



Brooke is a small village, most pleasantly situate, about seven miles 

 from Norwich, adjoining another well-known floral home, of which 

 more by-and-bye — Shottisham ; and is just one of those pretty bits 

 of English rural scenery that we in vain seek for in any other country. 

 Amongst the trees that enfold the village there is a plain old English 

 country-house, standing back a little from the high road, and this is 

 Brooke Lodge, the residence of Mr. Holmes. His garden is at the rear 

 of it, and by no means large ; the only florists' flowers that he culti- 

 vates are Dahlias and Roses. Of the former he does not at present 

 grow more than thirty plants, and yet from them he has taken first 

 prizes at the Crystal Palace, showing how well they must be done ; the 

 number, however, is too small to venture to exhibit from, and I believe 

 Mr. H. will not again attempt it. I should say that he does not grow 

 fancies, though, by one of those strange freaks which all seedling growers 

 have often noticed, Flirt appeared in his seedling bed. Amongst the 

 flowers which have had a trial this year, and which will be let out in 

 the spring, are two very fine self-coloured ones, Scout and Bravo. The 

 former is a crimson flower, two or three shades lighter than the Lord 

 Palmerston of the same grower, medium size, with a fine high centre, 

 and being of very dwarf habit and an extremely free bloomer, 

 will, doubtless, become very valuable as a bedder, as it is superior 

 in quality to anything in that class. The latter is a dark crimson 

 purple (somewhat of the colour of Lord Bath), well up in the centre, 

 and likely to be a constant flower. The seedling bed had been 

 gradually weeded of all inferior flowers, and only half a dozen left for 

 further trial. These will, next year, pass not only through the second 

 ordeal of Mr. H.'s critical eye, but will be grown at Slough and there 

 proved also, and by these means a tolerable amount of certainty as to 

 the goodness of Mr. H.'s flowers is obtained, though even then it is 

 impossible to be certain, some flowers will grow well in one situation 

 and not in another, even a few miles off; e.g., Fanny Keynes, which 

 few can do well, blooms most beautifully at Shottisham, while Mr. H. 

 cannot get it to succeed with him, although he has obtained plants from 



