CALEXDAK OF OPERATIONS FOR SEPTEMBER. 



353 



in the beds and borders untouched, 

 because they will continue to give 

 flowers till the frost cuts them off, 

 and that may be protracted till 

 Christmas, though it is not safe 

 to leave any that are wanted 

 after the middle of this month. 



Very early Bulbs, such as Cro- 

 cuses, Snowdrops, Daffodils, and 

 some kinds of Narcissus, may be 

 planted and potted now, though 

 it would do any time from now 

 till November. 



Details of the Pro'perties of 

 Flowers. — We have in our pub- 

 lished rules for estimating new 

 flowers avoided all details that 

 interfere with variety, and w'e 

 cannot help smiiing at the dis- 

 coveries made by some who may 

 be called special pleaders in the 

 fancy. We have adopted general 

 rules. In form we admit of no 

 compromise ; the outline, the 

 smoothness of edge, the thickness 

 of petal, the denseuess (not the 

 brilliance) of colour, the decision 

 of marking — all these things we 

 must have ; but the man who pre- 

 tends to tell us how this outline 

 must be formed, what shape the 

 inner portion of petals must be, 

 how the thing is to be made up, 

 and so forth, would reduce per- 

 fection to a sameness that nobody 

 wotild tolerate. When, therefore, we 

 see the small fry of floriculture en- , 

 ieriug into details that merely tend 

 to limit the variety, we think it J 

 a pity they can find journals to 

 insert their opinions ; we would 

 raiher see them driven to set up 

 a journal or a periodical of their 

 own, because their crude ideas 

 would then be only read by per- j 

 sons who agree with them. j 



French Flowers. — There was a j 

 time when the French Carnations, | 

 Picotees, Dahhas, and Tulips | 

 were the most outrageous carica- ' 



lures of flowers that could be 

 imagined; so long as they were 

 something out of the common 

 way there was no other quahnca- 

 tion necessary ; ugly or handsome, 

 round, square, or three-cornered, 

 no matter, they were described 

 " accurately," with a careful oiiiis- 

 sion of any point that would mili- 

 tate against them with the Enghsh 

 growers ; but they were never- 

 theless frightful objects, and only 

 came here to be grown once and 

 destroyed. Let us, however, ex- 

 cept lioses, for they had a fair 

 start with them, and kept it. 

 Hundreds that they sent over were 

 good for nothing, but there were 

 some that made amends for all the 

 disappointment occasioned by the 

 less valuable. At present the 

 French are acting upon our own 

 notions of perfection. Their Dahlias 

 are esteemed according as they 

 approach our standard, and some 

 are very beautiful approxinjations 

 to what we esteem as good. The 

 interchange of flowers has done a 

 gooil deal towards this. Mr. Salter, 

 ot Versailles, now of North-end, 

 Fulham, was the link which joined 

 the French and English florists in 

 the one great object; for he sent 

 over the best of the French, and 

 had back the best of the Enghsh, 

 till they perfectly understood all 

 oiu' notions. 



THE EOSE GARDEN. 



The Eoses of the summer kind 

 will have made their growth, aid 

 the heads of standards will be 

 very large. All the branches may 

 be shortened to a foot or so in 

 length, that they may not catch 

 the winds so much, because, if 

 left with all their growth on, they 

 would be liable to be broken. If 

 a head with all its summer growth 

 on were unsupported, it would te 

 2 A 



