JANUARY. 'Jo 



stand it was once finely grown by the late John Thackeray, who 

 resided in the neighbourhood of Nottingham ; I have not, however, 

 heard of it being fine elsewhere, I have grown it fiamed ; in that 

 state there is not much character about it. 



Lady Flora Hastings. Tkis is one of the most steady feathered 

 bybloemens I have ; the cup is good, and the marking nicely done. 

 It is not so dark as some of the varieties approaching the hue of the 

 Norwich Black Bagot ; it will reach a third row. In really good 

 roses there is. much scarcity ; for I consider Fanny Cerito, Nonpareil 

 (with its stained base). Lady Leicester, and Lady Vernon, but second- 

 rate. I can, however, give a different character to Catherine, which, 

 when not too full of colour, is a superb flower ; it is large, pure, 

 and highly coloured ; the petals are thick and velvety, and the 

 marking nicely laid on. I think this decidedly the best rose of 

 the family. 



I must now conclude this brief notice by stating that as breeders 

 and as rectified flowers they make a conspicuous figure on any bed, 

 and will be welcome to every collection, however small : true, they 

 are often coarse and sportive, but time will rectify this ; and were it 

 not for the excessive confusion that prevails amongst them, they 

 would be much more valuable than they really are. 



H. S. M. 



GAMBLES IN THE WEST IN SEARCH OF BRITISH PLANTS. 



January may fairly be called the dead month of the year for flowers 

 of every description. If the weather holds tolerably mild, we may 

 hope to collect enough of " odds and ends" from the garden to 

 make something like a bouquet ; but with the first sharp frost of 

 early morn departs the " last rose of autumn," removing every in- 

 ducement to neglect our rambles abroad. 



It excites no small surprise amongst East-country men, on first 

 visiting the West at this season of the ye;ir, to find the aspect of 

 vegetation so entirely diflerent in character : the grass has a fresher 

 appearance ; the laurels and other evergreens appear more luxuriant ; 

 and the orchards and woods have a peculiar soft, hazy look, from the 

 thick coating of lichens and profusion of mosses, which, seen at a 

 little distance, partially compensate for the loss of foliage. 



If we examine the stone walls, or, as they are called, " hedges," 

 we find them completely covered with small plants, and crowned 

 with a small neat ivy, tinted with every colour, from a brilliant crim- 

 son to an emerald green. Then we have large round patches of the 

 Navel wort {Cotyledon Umbilicus) rooting into every crevice, its long 

 decayed flower- spikes still remaining, and mixing with the black 

 Maidenhair Spleenwort {Asplenium Adiantum nigrum), the wall 

 Spleen wort (Asplenium Trichomanes) , and the wall-rue Spleenwort 

 (Asplenium Ruta muraria), and probably some starved plants of the 

 common Hart'b Tongue (Scolopendrium vulgare). In the neigh-- 



