October 8, 1867. 1 



JOTJBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



3«1 



merely for pnndy show, then in time their use will to Bome extent 

 become vulgar, iinJ be in a degree coupled with gaudy tapestry 

 and gilded walls and pretentious paintings and other glaring 

 insignia of the suddenly rich. While New York and I'hila- 

 delphia are in advance of Boston in the extent and Bkilful 

 culture and generous use of (lowers, I must be permitted to 

 add that an important lesson may be learned from the latter 

 city in taste and art in using these floral products. 



A practical and important point remains to be considered. It 

 has been stated that a large proportion of the flowers used were 

 for the purjiose of display or because custom required it. The 

 result of imiuiries leads me to estimate that nearly one-half of 

 all the flowers sold in New York are for balls and festive 

 occasions, which is a much larger proportion than in Boston. 

 Probably about forty percent, are for bridal and funeral purposes, 

 the latter being considerably in excess of the former. But 

 when you ask what proportion of flowers are bought in single 

 pieces, for nosegays, or as small bounuets for quiet home 

 enjoyment, you are told that the amount is so inconsiderable 

 thatmmtdealersdonot care to trouble themselves with this small 

 item. Instead of finding the largest use in this true waj% it is 

 considered an insigniCcant and scarcely desirable branch. For 

 this result the florist, the dealer, and the public are answerable 

 in common. Heretofore flowers have been produced at too high 

 cost. They have been grown in costly houses, or on a limited 

 scale, so that only a reasonable profit has been realised when the 

 shopmen have retailed Camellias at an average of 50 cents, 

 Roses at 12 to 20 cents. Carnations at 10 or 12 cents, Bouvardias, 

 Heliotrope, Eupatorium, and trusses of similar character at 

 about G cents. Now these prices do not seem high and yet 

 they are too liigh to allow the common use by common people 

 and in generous quantity. But this is the use which is most 

 genuine and healthful — by far the most important to the public, 

 and we can but think it may he made a large interest to the 

 florist, provided he will do his part in elevating the public taste 

 and meeting this honest enjoyment of flowers at reasonable 

 prices. Steps are taken in this direction, especially by the 

 German:* around New York, who grow cheap flowers, which are 

 made into nosegays by the housewife, and which are sold at the 

 ferries, hotels, and in the streets, during the warm months, at 

 10 to 2.") cents each. This is well ; but this is not sufticient. 

 A higher grade of flowers should be brought into use, and the 

 principle should be applied to the winter months also. That 

 there is no dilliculty in doing this we may easily see. 



But there iire two dilliculties to be met. The dealers are not 

 inclined to enter into this small trade, not merely because of 

 its smalluess, but more especially because the common use of 

 flowers would in their opinion make them unfashionable. It 

 is with a feeling of indignation that we must admit that there 

 is some force in this view. Y'et the products of our greenhouses 

 are of such rare and exquisite beauty and grace that they may 

 well be desoi ibed as " indispensable."' The rulers of fashion 

 cannot afford to place them under ban. Moreover there are 

 many kinds of flowers so rare and costly, that the foolishly extra- 

 vagant may find ample latitude for lavishing their wealth with- 

 out coming in contact or competition with the more humble 

 lover of Nature. Are diamonds out of vogue because the 

 servant girl is profuse in the use of glass brilliants? But a 

 more serious dilhculty lies in the fact that there is so little 

 real appreciation and fondness for flowers. Here is where 

 the educating process must be begun and carried on. Many 

 influences may be brought to bear and very positive results may 

 be expected to flow from this practical philanthropy. 



It must be a work of time to introduce flowers to general and 

 familiar winter use. Y'et this can be done. Let our florists 

 aim for cheap production, let them attempt to cultivate a more 

 correct taste, let them endeavour to gain more direct access to 

 the public, and in time they will find that these now-despised 

 drops will out-measure the costly orders of the wealthy. Ijet 

 them learn a lesson from their own art, seeking to extend the 

 refining influences of flowers — not content with profit in business 

 merely, but aiming also to be real benefactors of mankind. To 

 develope or extend the influences of Nature is, in a sense, to 

 enter into work of the Creator. — W. C. Strong (in American 

 Oardcncr's Monthly.) 



WHAT IS A SHRUB? 

 At the Bury Petty Sessions on the 19th of September, the 

 following ease came before the Mayor and Magistrates. 



Alfred Fisher, gardener to Mr. Burrell, Westley, was charged 



with cutting, with intent to steal, a part of a shrub exhibited 

 in the Corn Exchange, the property of the Itev. K. Bcnyon, on 

 the 13th inst. Mr. Grieve, gardener to the Kev. E. R. Benyon, 

 Culford, said : At the Horticultural Society at Bury last Friday, 

 I exhibited for Mr. Benyon the plant of the Lady CuUum Gera- 

 nium which is now produced ; I saw it placed on the table 

 in the Corn Exchange ; it was then in a perfect slate. Late in 

 the day my attention was called to it by Mr. Head, and I then 

 found that a branch had been cut off ; the part cut oil was likely 

 to germinate, and had been taken off recently ; it wet my finger 

 as if I had put it into water ; I should say it had been cut with- 

 in an hour ; the cutting would have been worth los. if it bad 

 been struck. I call the plant a greenhouse plant ; I do not call 

 it a tree, nor a sapling, nor underwood, nor a shrub — I call it a 

 plant grown in a greenhouse— a tender plant. 



Thomas Head, boot-closer, said : I was at the Horticultural 

 Show on Friday, and I saw this plant exhibited there. I saw 

 the defendant looking at the back part of the plant — not where 

 all the people were. I sav/ his hand up to the plant. I saw 

 him take his hand away with a cutting in it, put it into his 

 pocket and walk away. I did not know Fisher — only by sight. 

 Ho walked away down the Corn Exchange ; about a quarter of 

 an hour after I met Mr. Grieve, and had some conversation 

 with him. I was going with Mr. Grieve in the direction of the 

 plant, and I pointed out the defendant as the man who had 

 taken the cutting. He had two plants under his arm, which he 

 took to his van outside the door. He went into the van. It 

 was covered, and I did not see him when he was in it. Mr. 

 Grieve was with me. I am certain defendant is the man who 

 took away the cutting. I have known him from seeing him at 

 horticultural shows this season and last. 



Mr. Pettitt, lessee of the Botanic Gardens, said: A Geranium 

 is a plant or shrub. I produce the plant which I received from 

 Mr. Grieve on Friday last. I examined it at that time, and I 

 found it had been recently cut, in the very place where I should 

 have cut it myself ; it was cleanly cut, and certainly by a man 

 who understood it. I have frequently called a Geranium a 

 plant or a shrub. A shrub is a low-growing plant. I believe 

 a Geranium is a shiub within the ordinary meaning of the word. 

 I ground my opinion on Loudon's " Encyclopadia," and on 

 every authority that I have known, and from what I have been 

 taught. 



Mr. H. Turner, Beech Hill, Bury, said : I understand gar- 

 dening. I should designate a Geranium as a dwarf shrub. It 

 is not a very common thing to call a Geranium a shrub, nor an 

 uncommon thing. If you were to class it I do not know where 

 else you would put it. 



Mr. Salmon proceeded to address the Bench for the defence. 

 He characterised the offence charged against his client as one of 

 the most dastardly and cowardly which a gardener could com- 

 mit, and one deserving of the severest punishment. It was, 

 therefore, very important to the defendant to clear himself from 

 the imputation, and he hoped ultimately to have a deci.^ion in 

 his favour upon the facts. The case entuoly rested upon the 

 witness Head ; and he would not impute to him a wilful mis- 

 statement, but he would urge that he must have been mistaken. 

 The defendant could derive no benefit from stealing this cut- 

 ting, for he was not a trading gardener making money by his 

 plants. He was in the service of a gentleman than whom no 

 man in England would be more ready to pay for any plants he re- 

 quired, and would be the very last man to admit into his house 

 a plant obtained in this manner. It was a most imlikely thing 

 that the defendant should, while the Corn Exchange was 

 full of people, and with the witness Head standing right opposite 

 to him, take the cutting as alleged. Mr. Salmon then read a 

 testimonial from Mr. Burrell, stating that the defendant had 

 been in his employ for two years, and that he believed him to 

 be an honest, industrious, and hard-working man, and that he 

 had filled his situation to his entire satisfaction. Mr. Salmon 

 further said, that although he felt confident of a verdict on the 

 facts, he was bound also to draw attention to the law, and he 

 contended that a Geranium was not a shrub, that Mr. Grieve 

 was right, and Mr. Pettitt and Mr. Turner wrong ; and that even 

 if it could be by any possibility dragged into the class of shrubs, 

 it was not such a shrub as was contemplated in the Act of 

 Parliament, which classed shrubs with " trees, underwood, and 

 saplings." 



Mr. Walpole having replied upon the point of law, the Bench 

 deliberated and decided that in their opinion a Geranium was 

 not a shrub within the meaning of the Act. The case was con- 

 sequently dismissed on that ground. Mr. Walpole then applied 

 for a new summons under another Act of Parliament and it was 



