FOREIGN AND MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



I have fine new roses from. La Reine, all suberb! 

 Voila Perpetuelle, Conpe d'Hebe. 



" E. F. Why, your seedlings are all pretty, 

 but they are not distinct enough. But at what 

 charge do you propose so sell these seedlings? 

 for although of nearly the same color as their 

 parent, I should like one or two if not too 

 dear. 



" F. F. Monsieur, theij are new. What a 

 horrible word is that ' distinct' of yours; I pray 

 you do not use it. But for my seedlings I must 

 have a high price, as I will deliver to you all 

 the property in them ; let me see, for No. 1 you 

 must give 100/.; for No. 2, 125/.; for No. 3, 

 150/. 



"E. F. Stop, stop, Monsieur! Iwillnotgive 

 you one hundred shillings for your ' propriete ;' 

 they are not distinct enough. 



^^ F. F. Monsieur, what a horrible word! it 

 kills me." 



It is satisfactory to find a man like Mr. Riv- 

 ers joining us in an attempt which we have so 

 long been making, to persuade the world todis- 

 tingush between selection and collection. We 

 accept him as a stout recruit, from whom good 

 service may be expected. His trade experience 

 tells him much that we know nothing of; we 

 suspect that it tells him, among other things, 

 how unprofitable it is to swamp a nursery with 

 things which only a few curious people ever 

 ask for. Let us add that he has to some extent 

 carried out his principle in the last edition of 

 his sale catalogue, by cutting down the varieties 

 with no sparing hand. For instance, he now 

 oifers for sale only 67 varieties of Hybrid Per- 

 petual Roses; while a neighbor enumerates 

 110. 



But why keep 67 of these varieties? Can it 

 be said that among them there are 67 distinct 

 peculiarities — of growth for instance, or foli- 

 age, or color, or form or season. And if there 

 be, are the distinctions always of horticultural 

 value? Assured! J' not. No one who only re- 

 gards the decoration of a garden can possibly 

 want 67 sorts of Hybrid Perpetual Roses. A 

 dozen of the best are worth all the remainder. 

 The object of the gardener should be to obtain 

 the finest possible result by the simplest and 

 most unexpensive means. Let us suppose that 

 he has space for 60 roses; if he plants 60, bo 

 called different sorts, he will produce an effect 

 about as good as that of an old-fashioned patch- 

 work quilt. No skill can combine such mate- 

 rials into a harmonious whole. But suppose he 

 takes half a dozen of the finest growers, the 

 longest bloomers, and the most distinct colors; 

 with these he may really exercise what skill he 

 possesses in creating a brilliant scene. Mr. 

 Rivers himself points this out: — "Amateurs 

 are not now content with mixed beds of roses ; 

 all our finer sorts are planted in masses: thus, 

 in some rose-gardens formed this season, the 

 beds are made to contain from 50 to 60 plants 

 in olden times, these would each have 

 varieties, forming a patchwork of color ; 

 now they are arranged so as to form masses of 



distinct colors. Thus, No. 1 is Baronne Pre 

 vost; No. 2, Doctor Marx; No. 3, Madame 

 Aimee; No. 4, Geant des Batailles, and so on; 

 now these crimson and blush and rose-colored 

 large groups must have a fine efiect." Cer- 

 ainly they must: and an efiect that not only 

 cannot be rivalled, but cannot be even imitated 

 by any higgledy-piggledy arrangement whatso- 

 ever. Let us hope, then, that the intelligent 

 rose-growers will combine to carry out this 

 principle of selection, saving themselves much 

 trouble and loss, and their customers endless 

 vexation and annoyance. For who is to know 

 what to select from a legion of queer names? 

 or how to produce a beautiful effect with mate- 

 rials of whose quality he cannot possibly have 

 any knowledge? 



We have often urged this point upon the con- 

 sideration of the trade, and we are glad to see 

 that the force of our arguments is beginning to 

 be felt. In the majority of the lists this year, 

 issued by the most considerable nursery and 

 seedsmen, a very appreciable reduction has 

 been made in the names of varieties offered for 

 sale. Men are beginning to see the improprie- 

 ty of mystifying their customers, and we may 

 add the unprofitableness of it. But nothing 

 like enough has yet been done. Annuals, har- 

 dy plants, green-honse plants, hot-house plants. 

 Orchids, all the race of florists' flowers, and 

 fruit trees of every description, are quite as 

 much in want of the weeder as roses and kitch- 

 en garden stuff. Of what possible advantange, 

 for instance, to any one in Great Britain can be 

 the 1,400 sorts of apples, or 677 of pears, or 89 

 of figs, or 182 of grapes, or 360 of gooseberries, 

 enumerated in the last edition of the Horticul- 

 tural Society's " Catalogue of Fruits." Why, 

 fifty apples, five-and-twenty pears, half-a-dozen 

 figs, a dozen grapes, and as many gooseberries, 

 answer every purpose — except that of curiosi- 

 ty. The remainder may as well be consigned 

 to the rubbish heap. 



We know how unpalatable these truths will 

 prove to some of our enthusiastic friends, who 

 cling to their collections with as much tenacity 

 as a lawyer to old statutes, or a venerable 

 lady to still more ancient china; but we enter- 

 tain no doubt that they are becoming rapidly 

 acknowledged as truths all over the country, 

 and that the interest of every man consists in 

 their recognition. In former days, the object 

 was to have something new ; the purpose now- 

 a-days is to obtain something better; variety 

 is not the presnt consideration, an anxious de- 

 sire for IMPROVEMENT has taken its place; and 

 long may its place be thus occupied. Time is 

 rapidly proving that the fancies of our prede- 

 cessors must give way before the utilitarianism 

 of this age, and that to maintain the former has 

 become as undesirable as it is impossible. — Gar- 

 deners^ Chronicle. 



Hothouses in the time of the Romans ; by 

 M. DuREAU DE LA Malle. — In the memoir a 

 short time since read to the Academy upon the 



