JANUARY. 9 



left to chance. In some cases, this neglect arises from an indolent 

 disposition on the part of the purchaser, who can quietly possess a 

 plant without caring to know much about it. In other cases, from 

 a want of knowing the culture and treatment the plant should have. 

 In some instances, the plant may be a continental importation, with- 

 out a family pedigree or certificate, belonging to some almost un- 

 known genus, and puzzling all but the botanist. 



Many such plants are annually imported and are in due course 

 sent out lo the public with untraceable names, and many a disap- 

 pointment is the consequence. All honour to those enterprising 

 nurserymen who thus speculate in new plants, and at a great expense 

 endeavour to make us acquainted with the hitherto hidden treasures 

 of distant regions ; but great care should be taken not to resell them 

 until their value is ascertained. When a respectable house sends out 

 a new plant, it is held, in a measure, morally responsible for it. One 

 thing is very certain, the nurseryman who deals largely in new plants, 

 especially from the continent, should be a botanist, or have a bota- 

 nist at his elbow. Many very old acquaintances are re-baptised by 

 our continental friends, and duly introduced to our notice under 

 new names. 



This practice, by the by, is not singular; it is followed out in 

 other trades besides the plant trade ; for I recollect seeing Shakspeare's 

 Merchant of Venice once played under the startling title of The Jew 

 and the Merchant, or the Bond of Blood ; which further terrified me 

 by being a misnomer, as in the original it is a bond of flesh, no blood 

 being stipulated for. 



Messrs. Veitch and Son sent out Cantua buxifolia and Cantua 

 dependens, and few only have bloomed them. Fuchsia spectabilis 

 proved a puzzle. Many other instances could be cited where plants 

 have been unsuccessfully treated ; and I have never seen such plants 

 without considering how necessary it is that nurserymen, when in- 

 troducing new plants, should give as much of their history as possi- 

 ble, pointing out their native habitats, necessary culture, and as much 

 information as they possess, to guide purchasers in their treatment of 

 new plants ; and I cannot refrain from indulging in the conviction 

 that such a step would be alike beneficial to the nurseryman and 

 the amateur. The latter would then be better able to appreciate 

 the recommendations of the former. A very large amount of credit 

 is given to the opinions of nurserymen ; and yet how little trouble 

 they give themselves to secure the accomplishment of their recom- 

 mendations ! 



Turning to Florists' flowers, what a large amount of bad cul- 

 ture do they endure ! Many a gem, many a cherished pet, dear to 

 the raiser's heart — for even Florists have hearts, and deeply devoted 

 to floricultural pursuits they are — has been condemned through being 

 imperfectly grown. 



What becomes of a child, if neglected in its early life and left to 

 itself, without a mother's care to watch over every ailment and symp- 

 tom of disease ? Need we, in our daily avocations, look far around 

 without seeing the fearful consequences of neglect in the cultivation 

 and care requisite to make children healthy and perfect specimens of 



