84 THE FLORIST. 



them as strong and healthy as I can, for if water be neglected in dry 

 weather at this time, many of the weakest plants will not bloom the 

 following- summer. I plant them in beds of four rows each, about 

 five or six inches apart, and about the same distance in the rows, 

 with a roomy alley betwixt the beds, say 20 inches or 2 feet wide, 

 to afford means of examining them when in bloom ; and I dig or 

 pull up all from among them that are not worth preservation, also to 

 make room for layering my new and beautiful varieties ; and I make 

 it a strict rule never to preserve a new variety that has a single stain, 

 however small, on any one petal; for I have always found that such 

 will some time be quite sure to produce run flowers. I also consider 

 it folly to preserve any that are too full of petals, commonly called 

 ' bursters ;' for having been strictly careful in my inoculation, I never 

 feel doubtful, amongst four or five hundred, of having plenty of good 

 ones to choose from. There are great differences in the constitution 

 of plants, as to their fertility in producing seed ; and I consider that 

 those I should call good flowers, that produce a full pod of seed, are al- 

 most invaluable. Seedlings are generally speaking hardy as cabbage- 

 plants ; they do not require a winter protection, except from being 

 broken by the wind. 



I pursue the same system precisely with new varieties of Pinks ; 

 and I have no doubt it would produce the same effect with Tulips. 

 I always sow a profusion of Nemophila and Mignonette ; and with 

 plenty of these in bloom, bees seldom visit my Carnations. 



CANTUA BICOLOR. 



This very pretty flowering hard-wooded shrub is of a neat and 

 much-branching habit, and grows about two or three feet high ; the 

 branches are slender, very graceful, and hang down so as to cover 

 the pot. From the end of each are two or three rather large pendu- 

 lous flowers, which are of a bright rose-colour, with a yellowish 

 orange tube. A plant of it is flowering here in one of the stoves ; 

 but it appears to be rather a shy bloomer, as only two or three flowers 

 are expanded at one time. 



Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. J. Houlston. 



THE POOR MAN AND HIS GARDEN. 



" III fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 

 Where wealth accumulates, and men decay ; 

 Princes and lords may flourish or may fade— 

 A breath can make them as a breath has made — 

 But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, 

 When once destroyed, can never be supplied." 



Goldsmith. 



The social condition of the labouring classes is a subject which the 

 calm and philosophic observer in every age has invested with a 



