^mo/iff the Tioses, 165 



perfection, and it was an easy task to imagine what they would be in a very short 

 time. Well do I remember the Queen Margueirettes of my good old grandmother's 

 garden, and what store was set by those tamo old flowers, like the ox-eye daisy of the 

 fields ; and yet, in a few short years, the very same plant, by skill and perseverance, 

 has been changed into the greatest perfection of floricultural beauty. This crop is a 

 specialty here ; and, in addition to the above, they have twenty acres more grown for 

 them, making forty-five in all. Our visits to the many small places around Erfurt, 

 where seeds are grown for this one establishment, was quite interesting. At one of 

 these we counted fifteen tall platforms, holding thirty thousand pots of Ten Weeks' 

 Stocks. Seven hundred feet of frames were devoted to the fancy varieties of cucum- 

 bers, and, although they were apparently filled with fruit, the owner informed us he 

 would not realize more than one pound of seed from the lot, so unproductive are they 

 in this respect. At another garden pansies were a specialty ; and at another four 

 thousand plants of petunias received the almost undivided care of the proprietor. 

 This vast establishment employs about two hundred and fifty acres in all, one hun- 

 dred of which are under their immediate supervision. To work this mammoth gar- 

 den requires one hundred hands, the men receiving from two shillings to two and 

 sixpence per day, and the women one and sixpence. 



I could not pretend to enumerate all the very handsome flowers that arrested my 

 attention, but in the foregoing hasty notes I have merely named such as seemed to 

 me especially attractive. Time and space prevent me from describing the finest col- 

 lection of cactaceae, perhaps, in the whole world, as seen at Haage and Schmidt's 

 extensive grounds near Erfurt ; nor, in fact, any of the lesser gardens, of which 

 there are so many in the immediate vicinity, but quite enough has been said already 

 to give my readers a fair insight into what was to me the greatest treat I ever expe- 

 rienced in cultivated flowers. 



Among the Roses. 



AN ardent rose lover, whose enthusiasm bubbles over in glowing words, writes 

 to the Canada Farmer, of some of his favorites : 



A perfect little gem is Madame Alfred de Rougemont ; my first experience in 

 blooming this rose was with it in a pot, and it was a most charming sight. I planted 

 it, however, in the open ground where it passed the last trying winter safely, without 

 any protection ; and has been and still is covered with its delicate and lovely roses. 

 The wood and foliage are of a light green, the growth moderately stout, and with a 

 free and graceful habit. The roses are small in size, quite double and full; when 

 newly opened they are most handsomely capped, white with a delicate tint of flesh 

 color, deeper towards the centre. It is a most abundant bloomer, and though by no 

 means showy, is yet exceedingly attractive in its modest loveliness. For bouquets 

 in which light colors predominate, for wreathing the hair or set singly as a loop to 

 gather flowing tresses, it is perfect. 



Among the brilliant, dazzling ones I placed in the foremost rank the Due de 

 Rohan. Free and vigorous in habit, its leaves thick and massive, yet glossy in their 

 dark green, the entire tree puts on the air of one of noble blood, the roses are large, 



