206 MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



On Seedling Geraniums. — In my last I gave you a description of Mr. 

 Nairn's first beautiful seedling geranium. Since which I sent you our local 

 paper with the authorised report of our splendid Mav exhibition, in which you 

 will see the silver medal awarded to Nairn's second seedling, (not the one I 

 wrote to you of,) it having lost its flower the day previous, and not shown; every 

 opinion, but the judqes, gave the gold one to his in preference to the one which 

 got it. On the other side I wdl irive you a description of No. 2 and No. 3; 

 for myself I can onlv say I never saw anything equal to them. His great skill 

 in the impregnating of his flowers, together with great good luck, will amply 

 reward him this season. All but two or three that have yet opened are very fine, 

 and daily something appears to astonish ; nothing of the kind has ever taken 

 place in this part of the country, and. if I mistake not. he is about to show <mr 

 Plymouth florists how he can raise seedlings and grow plants ; but this exhi- 

 bition brills three times the size of any other, I shall now proceed to describe 



No. 2. Name, the Bride of Devon — A very superb white of superior size and 

 shape, the upper petals two-thirds covered with a flamed spot of black, eilged 

 with a beautiful purple crimson, obtained the silver medal, and considered to be 

 the best white yet raised. 



No. 3. Name, the Gem of the ff'est, and well deserving the name indeed. It is 

 a brilliant of the first water, its size and shape is faultless, the upper petals 

 covered with black and crimson, edged with bright rose, the under short and 

 broad, of a superb light rose, with lines one half the length of the petals, the 

 other half a pure white, forming a perfect gem in the centre. 



There are ninety still to open, so far it bids fair to have a complete house 

 full of seedlings of the first character. E. B. 



Remarks on Dahlias, &c — I still continue your excellent work, the " Flo- 

 ricultural Cabinet," which (unlike many periodical works, improves in interest 

 instead of falling off': and 1 wish you had resumed the "Forester's Record," 

 [we intend t'i do so. Conductor] as much yet remains to be said on the habits, 

 culture, &c, of flowering, ornamental, ev rgreen, and deciduous shrubs ; which 

 are not treated of sufficiently in detail in any horticultural work I have yet met with. 

 Loudon, it is true, in his '• Encyclopaedia of Gardening." gives you a consider- 

 able cata'ogue of them under their several heads, with their height, time of 

 blooming, colour. &c. ; but I have found, by experience, that many of them said 

 to be hard\ will not flourish within the influence of the sea air, or in very ex- 

 posed situations. After dwindling a few years, they die, and the cultivator loses 

 both his time and money, the former of which, to an amateur wishing to im- 

 prove the scenery immediately contiguous to his house, is probably of most im- 

 portance. With many the price of such a work as Loudon's is not easily spared, 

 whilst, on the other hand, a sixpenny or a shilling number per month is not felt. 

 I am afraid the immense number of almost worthless dahlias which now come 

 out annually, together with the squabbles of the trade, will sicken amateurs of 

 giving IDs 6r/. for plants which in three years' time are generally estimated at 

 Is, If 3s. 6d. were the outside prices of all new dahlias, except such as have 

 taken a certain number of single-handedyirs/ prizes as seedlings at some of the 

 principal exhibitions, I should think the trade would find double the number 

 of amaleur purchasers for really good flowers, and they might keep up the price 

 of first-rate flowers much longer. I know many amateurs who have given up 

 the fancy in consequence of the difficulty of selecting from such a number of 

 10s. (id. plants, and the certain deterioration of their collections in so short a 

 time. Why should a dahlia, which is so easily originated and so easily mul- 

 tiplied, be sold at such a price ? There is some excuse for a tulip, which requires 

 many years to come from the seed to perfection, and when once proved to be 

 good, it keeps its price and station in the market and in the bed. In order to 

 have a good collection of dahlias, one-third of them must be renewed annually, 

 and those they have displaced ma)' be thrown to the pigs, which is rather dear 

 feeding at the original cost of 10s. 6i/. per root. I grow about 150 varieties, and 

 I find about 20 new kinds annually scarcely sufficient to keep up a competent 

 bed, to exhibit as an amateur on a very moderate scale; and this I do lor the 

 sake of encouraging a love of horticulture amongst those who might spend their 



