288 THE FLORIST. 



and fifty of the same family. Now from forty to fifty sorts of this 

 very interesting and beautiful group will give us every shade of 

 colour and every variety of excellence. Let us be severe, and use our 

 heavy English common-sense, by naming and describing such Roses 

 as are really worthy of culture, and not be taken by new names, but 

 keep to those only that are good and — oh, horrible word in a French- 

 man's ear ! — distinct. 



Nurseries, Sawhridgworth. T. Rivers. 



ON FLORAL TASTES, AND THEIR RESULTS. 



THE BEARING OF FLORAL TASTES ON THE NATIONAL 

 WELFARE. 



If the readers of the Florist have honoured our essays with a perusal, 

 and will call to mind what has been said in preceding papers, it will 

 be evident that the pursuits of the gardener have an important in- 

 fluence on national welfare and happiness. If floral tastes counteract 

 worldliness ; if they bring before us the way in which our Maker 

 allows us to he fellow -workers with Him; if they produce refinement 

 of manners ; if they teach /a«7A and confidence in God; and, lastly, if 

 they promote goodwill and kindness among all the classes of society 

 who cultivate them, — they must surely be important agents in pro- 

 ducing national well-being. Those pohtical economists who rate every 

 thing by a money-value may demur to this conclusion ; but it will 

 be admitted unreservedly by those who believe that the number of 

 well-regulated minds in the body politic constitute its real greatness. 

 If it were possible to make all members of the higher classes 

 amateur gardeners, and all mechanics and labourers cultivators of 

 some little plot of ground which they could call their own, who does 

 not see that a higher grade would at once be occupied by society at 

 large ? What dissipation would be avoided, and how many elevating 

 and gentle thoughts and aff'ections cultivated, if all thus took an in- 

 terest in flowers ! It is well known that savings-banks are the best 

 security we have against popular outbreaks, because they keep men's 

 own acknowledged interests on the side of peace and quiet. To some 

 extent also a generally diffused taste for gardening has the same result, 

 by attaching a value to home and home pursuits. Among the poor, 

 the beneficial results of horticulture are more perceptible, because 

 they have but little time to spare, so that this taste, when possessed, 

 is a certain safeguard against debasing associations and pleasures. 

 We have, before, guarded remarks of this kind, to prevent its being 

 thought we are weak enough to think gardening is a specific for 

 every social malady, a panacea for all ills. Alas, how often is the 

 contrast most dark and deep between the innocence and purity of a 

 flower, and the bosom which wears and cherishes it ! What we do 

 say, without fear of contradiction, is this : Floriculture has a direct 



