43G 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



world half as haiidsomc as a rich luxuriant rose 

 vine, clamborinfj all over a neat country house, 

 anil loailed with clusters of blossoms, "too numer- 

 ous to mention." I should be frlatl to show you a 

 specimen ol the Boursalt (7t'^'rt;is that I have coax- 

 ed into a sort of giant here. IMy neiphbor 15. loves 

 roses, and thinks he jfrows roses ; but he is nothing 

 to me. I was up sixteen feet before he was as high 

 as your head. But he goes for jhjrshires, while I 

 stick to Botirsalts, and every fifth or sixth winter, 

 you know, gives the .'7i/r*/iiVfs a nip, while the 

 Boursalts are as hardy as oaks. Pray what is your 

 favorite climbing rose { Your obedient servant, 

 J. H. B. Philadelphia, Feb. 10, 1847. 



Answer. — The Globe Jyrshire, called Rosa ru- 

 ga by some. 'Ihe enthusiastic way in which our 

 corresiiondcnt identifies himself with his "climb- 

 ing roses,"' reminds us strongly of one of Hood's 

 most amusing characters. Mrs. Gardiner, iivf'i- 

 dow, whose only idea was her garden, and who 

 sadly puzzled some of her acquaintances by the 

 figurative style in which she continually talked 

 about her hobby. Hoop, looking over into her 

 garden, compliments her on her fine carnations; on 

 which the following conversation ensues: 



'Yes, I"ve a stronger blow than any one in the 

 place, and as to sweetness, noboily can come nigh 

 me. Would you like to walk in, sir, and smell 

 me?' 



'Accepting the polite invitation, I stepped in 

 through the little wicket, and in another moment 

 was rapturously sniffing at her stocks, and the 

 flower with the sanguinary name. From the walls 

 I turned oif to a rose-bush, remarking that there 

 was a very fine show of buds.' 



' Yes, but I want sun to make me bust. Y"ou 

 should have seen me last .Tune, sir, when I was in 

 my full bloom. None of your wishy-washy pale 

 sorts — (this was a fling at the white roses at the 

 next door) — none of your Provincials, or pale 

 pinks. There's no maiden blushes about me. I'm 

 the regular old red cabbage !' 



And she was right; for after all, that hearty, 

 glowing, fragrant rose is the best of the species; 

 the queen of flowers, with a ruddy embonpoint, re- 

 minding one of ihe goddesses of Rubens. 



' And there's my American creeper. Miss SHARP 

 pretends to creep, but Lor bless ye! afore she ever 

 gets up to her first-floor window, I shall be run- 

 ning all over the roof of the willa. You see I'm 

 over the portico already.' 



While this conversation was going on, a deaf 

 bachelor-neighbor, who has a garden of his own, 

 passes by; but 'Mrs. Gardiner' hails him in a 

 loud voice, and addresses him in her customary 

 style. 



' Well, and how are you, Mr. Burrel, after them 

 east wintis?' 



' Very bad, very bad indeed,' replied Mr. Bur- 

 rel, thinking only of his rheumatics. 



' And so am I,' said Mrs. Gardiner, remember- 

 ing nothing but her blight: 'I'm thinking of try- 

 ing tobr.cco-water and a squiringe.' 



' Is that good for it?' abked Mr. B., with a tone 

 of doubt and surprise. 



« So they say : but you must mix it strong, and 



squirt it as hard as ever you can over your afTected 

 parts.' 



' W^hat, my lower limbs.'' 



' Yes, anil your ujjper ones too. Wherever you 

 are maggotty.' 



'Oh!' grunted the old gentleman; * you mean 

 vermin.' 



'As for me,' bawled out Mrfe. G., 'I'm swarm- 

 ing! And Miss Sharp is wus than I am.' 



' The more's the i)ity,' said the old gentleman : 

 'we shall have no ai)i)lesand j)ears.' 



' No, not to signify. How's your peaches?' 



'Why, they sot kindly enough, Ma'am, but they 

 all dropped off in the last frosty nights.' 



'Ah, it ain't the frost,' roared Mrs. G., ' Y'ou 

 have got down to the gravel — I know you have — 

 you look so rusty and scrubby !' 



' I wish you good morning, Ma'am,' said the lit- 

 tle old bachelor, turning very red in the face, and 

 making rather a jirecipitate retreat from the dwarf 

 wall; as who wouldn't, thus attacked at once in his 

 person and his jieach-trees. 



' To be sure, he was dreadful unproductive,' the 

 widow said; ' but a good sort of body, and ten 

 times pleasanter than her next-door neighbor at 

 Number Ten, who would keep coming over her 

 wall, till she cut ofl his i)umpkin.' 



' She now led me round the house to 'her back,' 

 where she showed me her grass-plot, wishing she 

 was greener, and asking if she ought not to have 

 a roll. She next led me oif to her vegetables, 

 halting at last at her peas, some few rows of Blue 

 Prussians, which she had probably obtained from 

 Waterloo, they were so long in coming up. 



' Backard, ain't I?' 



' Y'es, rather.' 



'Wery; but Miss Sharp is backarder than me. 

 She's hardly out of the ground yet ; and please God, 

 in another fortnight I shall want sticking.' 



'There was something so irresistibly comic in the 

 last equivoque, that I was forced to slur over a 

 laugh as a sneeze, and then continued to ask her if 

 she had no assistance in her labors.' 



' What, a gardener? Never! I did once have a 

 daily jobber, and he jobbed away all my dahlias. 

 I declare I could have cried! But's very hard to 

 think you're a valuable bulb, and when summer 

 comes, you're nothing but stick and a label.' 



' Very provoking, indeed!' 



' Talk of transplanting; they do nothing else but 

 transplant you from one house to another, till you 

 don't know where you are. There was I, think- 

 ing I was safe and sound in my own bed, and all 

 the while I was in Mr. Jones's. It is scandalous!' 



Parlor Plants in Winter. — There are so few 

 who care enough for flowers to trouble themselves 

 with them during the winter, that it seems almost 

 unkind to criticise the imperfections of those who 

 do. But it is very plain that, for the most part, 

 skill and knowledge do not keep pace with good 

 taste. Not to point out defects to those who are 

 anxious to improve, would be the real unkindness. 



There are two objects for which plants are kept 

 over. 



Plants are housed for the sake of their verdure 



