AUGUST. 



187 



friends, we must repeat the opinion expressed last year (page 161), 

 that at present they are doing more for the Pansy than we are in the 

 south. Several of the varieties sent out last season have proved to 

 be exceedingly fine flowers, the best of which is Dickson's Royal 

 Standard, which has a pale-straw ground, with rich dark top petals ; 

 the lower petals have a broad heavy margin of the same shade, good 

 eye, stout, and very large. Miss Talbot, Earl Mansfield, and Sove- 

 reign, are also good Scotch varieties, with those enumerated last 

 season, at the head of which stands Royal Visit, Miriam, and Flower 

 of the Day. The best English varieties of last season are Sir J. Cath- 

 cart, Marchioness of Bath, Sir J. Paxton, National, and Rising Sun. 

 The moist cool summer will be in favour of the Pansy ; therefore 

 look forward to a more prolific season in 1854. 



Those who intend competing in 1854, we recommend to propa- 

 gate a good stock of the following, in addition to those above enume- 

 rated, all of which we have seen fine this season : Adela, Blanche, 

 Duke of Perth, Great Britain (Parker), Ophir, Pompey, Rainbow, 

 St. Andrew, Sambo, Alfred the Great, British Queen, Duke of Nor- 

 folk, Euphemia, France Cycole, Gliffe, Lady Emily, Lord Walsing- 

 ham, Pandora, Robert Burns, Sir J. Franklin, Sultan, Supreme, 

 Thisbe, Aurora, Caroline, Mrs. Beck, Mrs. M. Hamilton, Penelope, 

 Queen of England, and Sir R. Peel, 



THE HARDY AZALEA. 



I would write a chapter on these beautiful shrubs, if I knew how. 

 But the variety is so endless, and the nomenclature so confused, that 

 it is scarcely possible to designate them correctly. For instance, 

 Messrs. Waterer's Princeps is a splendid amber colour ; Mr. Baker's 

 (of the same name) an equally fine white, tinted with pale rose. 

 Conspicua, with the former, is a deep golden yellow; with the latter, 

 crimson and orange. I have one Grandis orange bufF, variegated 

 with red and white ; another, a large white, with rose tints. I have 

 two Pontica albas, similar in leaf and habit, very distinct in flower. 

 In short, there is no knowing when you write for a variety what it 

 will turn out. To a person first commencing, with plenty of room 

 and soil, this uncertainty may be of little consequence, as all the 

 varieties are beautiful, and he may leave them to the selection of his 

 nurseryman, without fear of being disappointed. But to amateurs 

 like myself, who have to make their soil, and wish to confine their 

 collection to the best sorts, it is very perplexing. All catalogues of 

 Azaleas ought to be arranged with some degree of classification; for 

 though it may be impossible to describe with accuracy the endless 

 variations of nature, there are certain clear and leading distinctions 

 which would greatly assist in making a selection. In the Tulip and 

 Carnation the favourite varieties are very numerous, and often im- 

 possible accurately to designate ; but the distinctions of byblcemen, 



