BU 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



r AprU 30, 1868. 



tinuously there, the presence, and I may add the companion- 

 ship of trees is doubly welcome. I have been witness in 

 Jormer years of the great love, almost reverence, which fenmen 

 feel for the few trees they possess. Just on one side of the 

 market place in a fen town stood a large Elm ; how it came to 

 be there no one knew, for sa-ving a few Ash trees, and pollard 

 Willows (those wretched club-headed apologies for trees), there 

 was no timber near. Just oS this market place on a bit of 

 waste land, a kind of plester or pleystow, or playing-place for 

 young people, such as that mentioned by Gilbert ^Vhite, stood 

 the Ehn. So the place, so the tree, had remained for many 

 years, when a speculating builder managed, I know not how, 

 to buy the site, and he determined to pull down the tree. He 

 was asked not to do it, but in vain ; and when the day came, 

 and the fine old Elm fell, there were groans for the "Vandal, and 

 many an old man's eye filled with tears, as he saw his friend 

 of many years prone on the earth. Oh ! that strange mixture 

 of good and bad, our human heart ! it has a tender place for 

 an old friend, if even that friend be but a tree. 



Trees have touched the hearts, and inspired the song of many 

 poets. Take as samples these two tree pictures from the pen 

 of Wordsworth :— 



" There is a Yew tree, pride of Lorton vale. 



Which to this day stands single in tho midst 



Of its own darkness, as it stood of yore. 



This solitary tree ! a living thiuK, 



Produced too slowly ever to decay; 



Of form and aspect too magnificent 



To be destroyed." 



Then follows a second tree picture, which has been par- 

 ticularly commended by Mr. Euskin. 



" Bnt worthier still of note 

 Are those paternal four of Borrowdale, 

 Joined in one solemn and capacions grove, 

 Hnge trunks ! and each particular trunk a growth 

 Of intertwisted fibres serpentine, 

 Up-coiling, and inveterately Cuuvolved." 



Then, too, there are the associations connected with trees. 

 Look at a pollard Oak of large size. How very old it is, how 

 very slowly it has grown, how mauy generations have looked 

 at it. On the hills behind my house there is one, and 1 often 

 look at it with reverence, and I say, " Perhaps William III. 

 saw you, or very likely Sir William Waller saw you, or even 

 Cromwell himself looked at your stem, and noted your fine 

 look." Yes, perhaps — 



" When all the paths were dim. 

 Beneath the Roundhead rode, 

 And hummed a surly hymn.'' 



And without doubt 



" You have shadow'd many a group 

 Of beauties that were born. 

 In teacup times of hood and hoop, 

 Or while the patch was worn." 



Let trees, then, have their meed of praise. They are constant, 

 abiding friends to us. They vary, indeed, according to season, 

 but each variation is a separate beauty; bud, leaf, blossom, 

 shades of green leaf, lighter at first, then darker ; then come the 

 rich autumnal tints, and then the grand visible branches 

 stretching far and wide during the winter mouths, long low- 

 hanging limbs lying above, and not far above, the backs of the 

 clustering deer ; and when the hoar frost comes, the whole tree 

 standing jewel-decked. 



But let flowers also have their meed of praise. They are the 

 loveliest of all things while they last ; bright visitors, whose 

 coming is looked forward to with longing — bright visitors that 

 leave behind them pleasant memories, who are talked of after 

 they have left us. I liken perennials to old friends that come 

 and stay with us a few days each year^ — old, old friends, whom 

 we have known so many years that we cannot tell exactly 

 when our friendship began. 



Then, as flowers differ in appearance, I liken them to dif- 

 ferent friends. Some I compare to quiet maiden aunts, whom 

 all the children gather round and love, whom the youngest, 

 that little impatient youngest one, obeys readily, and feels 

 happy in so doing. Other flowers, not a bit lite these, so 

 my fancy runs, are so bright and glad-looking, that I com- 

 pare their visit to that of some bright-eyed merry girl — merry, 

 so merry, that she makes the house ring with laughter— merry 

 so merry, that she even " makes a sunshine in a shady place," 

 and her visit has made such a difl'erence to the quiet home- 

 routine, that when she is gone j^ou wonder and mark the 

 change, and sigh to think that in a few years the world's heavy 

 weight will subdue to a quieter tone even that merry laugh. 

 And so of other and other flowers. 



Lastly, of trees and flowers, the former we wish to have, the 

 latter we must have, as the child u-iU pluck the Daisies. 

 Happily our craving can readily be satisfied, for flowers are 

 easily carried into the heart of great cities, placed by sicT; beds, 

 found or taken everywhere. No need of choice sorts for these 

 purposes. The sprig of Lilac, the nosegay of common flowers, 

 from a common garden, are sufficient, are welcome, and give 

 untold happiness. — Wiltshire Rector. 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS 



AT THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY'S SHOW— April 18th. 



At the very time when all the Auricula -gi-owers in and about London 

 would have been thankful to have competed, positively the Society 

 offers no prize ; and Mr. Turner sends his hundred plants to be 

 shown in the miscellaneous class for perhaps lO.s'. or 155., and on tbe 

 0th of May, when he and manj' southern gi-owers will have repotted 

 their plants, then prizes are offered. Now I happen to know that in 

 this case, before the schedules were printed, alterations were suggested 

 by a very influential officer of the Society, and were quietly ignored, 

 while afterwards Mr. Turner pointed it out ; but nothing could be 

 done, and so the matter remained. 



Mr. Turner and Mr. James both deserve credit for bringing forward 

 fine collections of these beautiful flowers, which require more care and 

 attention than suit half tho good folk who think themselves to be 

 gardeners now-a-days. and who affect to despise such things as these 

 florists' flowers. Doubtless it requires an educated eye to appreciate 

 their heauty. Thus one good friend, who cau gi-ow a Ptose as lew can, 

 said to uie in looking at them, " Ah, that nasty paste ! " The heretic I 

 And another says, *' Doubtless those Alpines ai-e more beautiful ;" — 

 rubbish as compared with the beautiful stage flowers alongside of 

 them. Where will you find such colours, such refinement, such pecu- 

 liarity as amongst tliem ? There are violets and bluish blacks amongst 

 them that are absolutely not to be found elsewhere in Flora's domain, 

 as, for example, Moore's Violet and Chapman's Maria ; while the 

 varied character of the foliaj^e is itself a treat. 



Mr. Turner's flowers struck mo as better than ever. Sometimes I 

 have found fault with them as overdone, and then their character ie 

 lost, for if an Auricula be coarse it is worth but little. The seedlings 

 of Mr. Turner exhibit many good points. Colonel Champneys is a 

 fine gi-ey-edged flower, somewhat in the style of Dickson's Prince 

 Albert, and, like it, inclined to be what my dear good friend Mr. Jeans 

 used to call "goggle-eyed." Bnt what in the world did Mr. Turner 

 put up that yellow self Canary for ? To the border with it, along 

 ■with Gorton's Stadtholder, would be my verdict. Some of his flowers 

 were very fine: — Chapman's Sophia, with its brilliant colour; George 

 Lightbody, i^> admirable condition ; Gloi-y, the glory of white edges 

 still ; Chapman's Maria, in some points the most remarkable Auricula 

 in growth ; Dickson's Unique, very peculiar in its colouring ; and a 

 number of others new and old. By-the-by, Mr. Dean, you are wrong 

 about Bright Phcebus. It is, perhaps, instead of being new and rare, 

 one of the oldest, commonest, and, I may add, least valued of white 

 edges that we have. 



Before I leave the Auriculas, let me thank " J. M." for his com- 

 munication, and say that I hope ere long to have another chat which 

 may satisfy him and the amateur who hails from Christchurch, Hants ; 

 but at present I hope he will pity au uuforinnate who. unlike Sir 

 Boyle Hooke's bird that could be in two places at once, is in no place 

 at all — suspended like Miihomet's coffin, and who has to superintend 

 the removal of his plants during next week. 



I am more than ever convinced that forced Koses are a mistake for 

 the real connoisseur, the only class that really comes out well being 

 the Teas. Of all others, they come so much out of character that 

 even a practised eye could not in many instances say wliat they were. 

 Of Tea-scented Roses, it is quite clear that three out of last year's are 

 valuable additions — Monsieur Furtado, Bouton d'Or. and Madame 

 Margottin. I saw nothing else worthy of note. 



Must not the Cyclamens soon be ranked as a florists' flower? What 

 variety and what beauty in that tine collection of Mr. Wiggins, who 

 also contributed some good Polyanthuses. Csin nothing be done with 

 this latter flower ? The old varieties are hard to get, and new ones 

 ought surely to be raised of greater beauty and novelty ? Or is it one 

 of those flowers that seem to defy the efforts of the hybridiser ? 



My visit was a very hurried one ; nor could I have paid it at all 

 unless I had been going to take duty iu Dorsetshire, and so seized the 

 opportunity in my way through. I cannot but lament that these 

 Shows are held on a day which practically excludes so many of up 

 from enjoying them. — D., I)col. 



SLATE EDGING. 

 Ix reply to the inquiry from your correspondent '■ E. T." 

 about slate edging for flower beds, I would suggest to him a 

 form of edging which I have found cheap, effective, and very 

 handy. The ordinary slate edging consists of blocks of slate 

 trimmed and smoothed, and seems to me too expensive for 

 general use. I obtained a number of the smallest-sized roofing 



