NOVEMBER. 249 



the stalk. The suture is faintly marked, and extends half-way- 

 down the fruit. Stalk half an inch long, quite stout, and in- 

 serted without depression. Skin purplish red, spread over with 

 large brown specks, and covered with a pale thin bloom. Flesh dull 

 yellow, very sweet, rich, juicy, and luscious; separates clean from 

 the stone, which is small and oval. This is a beautiful little dessert 

 Plum, ripening about the middle of September, and will not hang 

 long on the tree. An east wall is suitable for this variety. 



Frogmore. J. Powell. 



[In ]>. 233, top line, for acid read red.] 



(To be continued.) 



TOWN-GARDENS AND PARLOUR-WINDOWS. 



If the discernment, appreciation, and love of the beautiful in nature 

 or art be a healthy sign of moral improvement and elevated senti- 

 ment in a people, then have we some ground, I think, for congratu- 

 lation that the inhabitants of large towns in general, and London in 

 particular, are progressing in the right direction. 



That a man or a class of men should naturally and voluntarily 

 turn with looks of admiration to the beautiful in floral nature is a 

 strong presumptive proof that in his soul there exists an inherent 

 principle which may, nay must, work, — gradually it may be, but 

 surely, — great good, in training that portion of the human family 

 of which he is a member towards the highest paths in which it is 

 ordained for civilised man to tread. Cold-hearted utilitarianism — that 

 bane of the present day — will be discarded from the mind of a man 

 familiar with the sublime, as being of too narrow a character to be 

 consistent with the breadth of view and harmonising influences he 

 drinks in with every draught of nature's bounteousness ; the very 

 constitution of the mental faculties becomes changed from the mere 

 association ; and is it to be supposed, that while an individual is 

 striving after perfection among his flowers, he can rest content that 

 the grossest disfigurements shall characterise either himself or his 

 fellows ? Can he admire harmony on the one hand, and encourage 

 the want of it on the other ? Can he be satisfied with resplendent 

 beauty here, while the ugliness of vice in every shape confronts him 

 there? In short, can he feel his every thought elevated to a better 

 sphere of action, and look around content to see a large proportion 

 of his fellow-mortals grovelling in the dust ? And upon the truth 

 or untruth of this does it depend whether we have reason to con- 

 gratulate ourselves or not, as I have said. 



But I may be asked for reasons for my ground of hope ; may be 

 called upon for data for my facts; may be told that my theory, if 



