FOREIGN NOTICES 



Overgrown Catalogues. — Once upon a time 

 the great object of the English gardener was to 



make what he called a collection of plants. If 

 he had a green-house he would have a collection 

 of Heaths, or Pelargoniums, or Mesembryanthe- 

 mums, or Aloes; if the master of a stove, it was 

 in that case his ambition to get together a collec- 

 tion of Passion-flowers, or Ferns, or Ixoras, or 

 something of the sort. If confined to an acre of 

 ground he would have a collection of apples, or 

 pears, or gooseberries; the owner of a few rods 

 of land would be content with a collection of peas, 

 or lettuces, or potatoes. In any case, a collec- 

 tion was the great end to be attained. In form- 

 ing these collections men did not consider whether 

 the plants were useful or useless, handsome or 

 ugly, different or identical; all they wanted was 

 a long list of names; and a proud man was he 

 who could say that he reckoned a larger collection 

 of gooseberries, or apples, or potatoes, than his 

 neighbor. The addition of a " seedling" or two, 

 of his own raising, elevated him to the summit of 

 horticultural happiness. Felix ter et amplius ! 



We have heard of one gentleman who numbered 

 1200 roses in his list, among which were about 

 350 wild briars, some of which had a little hair 

 on their leaves, and some had none, some had 

 double teeth, some had single, one sort had ovate 

 hips and another oval, and so on. There exists 

 we believe to this day a collection of Paeonies 

 formed upon the same enlightened principle; and 

 we have no doubt that similar collections of Daf- 

 fodils, Michaelmas Daisies, or Catmints, may be 

 found in some sequestered garden. 



This harmless folly, like many other crotchets, 

 destitute of all elements of longevity, could scarce- 

 ly exist, one would think, in this utilitarian age. 

 We are therefore witnessing at the present day 

 collections giving way to selections; " hard pru- 

 ning" applied in all directions to those old bushes 

 of barren half dead wood; and a few select plants, 

 thoroughly well grown, replacing the empty pots 

 and moribund sticks which invariably character- 

 ised the collections of our worthy forefathers and 

 their ancient sons as long as they remained among 

 us. It is therefore not a little curious to find a 

 race of worthy men still unconscious of the change 

 in public feeling, and continuing to publish inter- 

 minable lists of this and that, as if the rage for 

 collections was as fresh as ever. 



Some recent lists of nurserymen and seedsmen 

 afford amusing examples of this. One grower of 

 roses offers 607 sorts of that flower; another, 

 850; a potato salesman's catalogue has 160 sorts; 

 a Dahlia-grower's 3 or 400 ; a Geranium-grower's, 

 as many ; a seedsman invites attention to his 38 

 sorts of cabbage and 61 sorts of peas! 



Can extravagance go further than this? Should 



any one be surprised at the murmurs which are 

 just beginning to make themselves heard on the 

 part of buyers, or that a host of rose lovers should 

 already have arrayed itself on the side of our cor- 

 respondent '■' Crito? " Do the gentlemen who of- 

 fer these wares to the public seriously think there 

 is common sense in thus bewildering their custom- 

 ers? that the names under which their " sorts" 

 are sold indicate real differences of quality? The 

 idea is absurd. Sixty sorts of peas ! Why, there 

 is not a dozen really worth growing; the rest are 

 little more than fudge. AVe should be curious to 

 know how many sorts of these peas are provided 

 from one bag of Charltons, bought of one of the 

 great London seed merchants. It would be worth 

 while for an idle man to get a complete set of 

 such peas, to raise them, compare them, and re- 

 port the result for the public good. 



In this respect buyers are greatly in want of 

 such a guide as the French possess in their inva- 

 luable " Bon Jardinier." There we find the whole 

 number of peas, reputed as distinguishable, to 

 amount to 34, and of these many are distinctly 

 shown to be of no importance. Perhaps we may 

 make it our own business to put an end to the 

 absurdity belonging to English vegetable seed 

 lists. 



It should always be borne in mind that, to ren- 

 der a variety worth permanent cultivation, it 

 should possess some peculiar quality in which it 

 distinctly excels all other varieties previously 

 known. To distinguish it merely because it is 

 " a seedling," as some do, is sheer anility. Those 

 who are every year bringing forward what they 

 call novelties are bound to show that they have 

 been proved by competent judges to be not only 

 different from, but better than anything previously 

 known ; and if buyers were wise, they would re- 

 fuse to purchase in the absence of satisfactory evi- 

 dence as to this point. 



What is true of mere varieties, such as those of 

 common kitchen garden plants, is equally true of 

 the species belonging to classes holding a more 

 aristocratical position in vegetable society. The 

 possessor of a park admires the magnificence of 

 the Conifers which he sees in the possession of 

 his country neighbor. Let him set about forming 

 a collection of Conifers, and what does he get? 

 many magnificent kinds, some of very inferior 

 beauty, and many of no interest whatever. The 

 latter ruin the appearance of the others, and the 

 effect which was looked for is marred. Take, for 

 instance, a very good list of Conifers now before 

 us; who is there that would wish to become pos- 

 sessor of such pines as those called monophylla, 

 tortuosa, pungens, mitis, inops, Banksiana, the 

 tag-rag and bobtail of the race ? In this, as in 

 all cases, a selection is admirable, a collection an 



