92 THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. [ AraiL, 



fection, and insured him against a special malady : but at best, fire is an 

 extravagant and dangerous purifier, and is altogether inapplicable to the 

 case before us. The air has been the most favoured outlet, and it is one of 

 the most efficient agents for the removal of dead matter. It never wearies of its 

 burdens, never rests from its labours. It bends lowly over every stagnant pool, 

 polluted river, muddy ditch, and crowded town, and bears off in its bosom a load 

 of dead matter, which it carries far away over corn-fields, flowery meads, gardens, 

 and leafy dells, and through deep dark forests, until relieved of its load by the 

 hungry plants that steal it on its passage. Unfortunately, however, the dead 

 matter renders the carrier itself impure ; and the impure air does not simply 

 meet with vegetable, but also with human mouths, on its journey. Neither are 

 these endowed with a power of selection. The whole air, pure and impure, rushes 

 headlong into the latter, and permeates through the entire system. The brain — 

 the seat of life and thought — is paralyzed or poisoned by that sewage that has 

 been permitted to reek out its filth into the air. Who would not shrink with 

 horror from swallowing a mouthful of it ? and yet it enters our bodies much more 

 completely through the medium of the air, than if we thrust it into our 

 stomachs. Common cleanliness, and our common safety, alike demand that the 

 air, the very breath of our life, be no longer converted into a common sewer. 

 Hardwiclce. D. T. Fish. 



NEW FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 



"jjjfTOBEMOST among these, for its vividness of colour, its great size, and its 

 boldness of outline, must be placed the Azalea La Superbe, which was 

 exhibited by Mr. 0. Turner, at the meeting of the Floral Committee on 

 the lGth ult., and was awarded a First-Class Certificate ; much larger, 

 though not equal in form to Stella, it has the great advantage of a glow of 

 heightened colour, being of a deep bright fiery red, the upper segments having 

 a group of small dots of violet ; too square in shape to reach the highest perfection 

 of form, it so gains in other respects as to be well worthy the award it received. 

 In point of habit, as far as it could be inferred from a small plant, there was no 

 room for complaint. Messrs. Ivery and Son, of Dorking, sent two new Azaleas, 

 which possess considerable merit, viz., Emma Ivery and Rosa Ivery, both in the 

 way of Charmer, but the first-named being of a deeper hue of bright rose, the 

 latter paler. The flowers were of good outline, but rough, and will in all 

 probability be seen better a few weeks hence. The former would give a charming 

 glow of colour as an exhibition variety. 



The very fine strains of Cinerarias now attainable from seed have, to a great 

 extent, superseded the necessity for named kinds ; still Messrs. F. and A. Smith, 

 of Dulwich, who are in the van with new forms of this pleasant spring flower, 

 continue to produce new kinds. At the meeting referred to, this firm obtained a 

 First-Class Certificate for Royal Purple, a large, stout, and showy flower, which, 



