THE PROSPECT OP FLORICULTURE. 31 



the success which attends the system ; indeed, it is rare that a graft 

 fails to grow. In about a fortnight the union between the root and 

 the scion is complete, and in the following spring the plants are well 

 established and strong. They frequently bloom the first Spring, and 

 are rarely later than the second, when they are dug up and taken to 

 the markets for sale in the manner I have described. When each has 

 only one stem and one flower bud, it is of more value in the eyes of 

 the Shanghae nurserymen than when it becomes larger. In this state 

 it is more saleable ; it produces a larger flower, and it is easily dug up 

 and carried to the market. I could always buy large plants at a 

 cheaper rate than small ones, owing to these circumstances. 



11 In the garden of the Mandarins it is not usual to meet with the 

 tree Paeony of great size. There was one plant |near Shanghae which 

 produced between three and four hundred blooms every year. The 

 proprietor of it was as careful of it, as the Tulip fancier is of his bed of 

 Tulips. When in bloom it was carefully shaded from the bright rays 

 of the sun by a canvass awning, and a seat was placed in front, on which 

 the visitor could sit down and enjoy the sight of its gorgeous flowers." 



(Fortune, in Paxton's Floiver Garden.) 



THE PROSPECT OF FLORICULTURE. 



BY MR. GEORGE GLENNY. 



Those who have had the curiosity to look iiflo the history of this 

 pleasing science will have learned that, although one of the principal 

 means of improvement, and the pursuit to Avhich we owe the most im- 

 portant feature on English Gardening, it began among the humble 

 classes, and has gradually worked its way upwards, without the aid of 

 professional gardeners, who have in many instances been obliged to 

 learn it, and practise it, for its own merits. There is no more credit, 

 in a scientific point of view, due to the man who changed the Crab into 

 an Apple of superior kind, than to the cultivator who converted the 

 Briar to a Rose, or the " Bear's-ear " to an Auricula. For aught 

 we know, nature, unaided by anything but high cultivation, may have 

 originated the first grand deviation from the simplicity of her wild 

 flowers and fruits ; but from time to time almost immemorial, florists 

 have gone on producing from seed the finest specimens of flowers, 

 which until lately were not recognized or appreciated by the higher 

 classes of society, in the same way that improvements in fruit were re- 

 cognized and appreciated by the mass ; simply because flowers gratified 

 taste which was not universal, while fruit satisfied the animal appetite, 

 which reigned paramount everywhere. The common flowers were 

 grown in the most noble establishments, where the improved varieties 

 were rarely seen ; and it is only of late years that the perseverance and 

 the success of the florist has given rise to the emulation among plants- 

 men, and hybridizing, as it has been commonly, though improperly 

 called, has become one of the most general features in horticulture as 

 well as floriculture ; nay, gentlemen's gardeners, who used to treat the 

 humble florist with sovereign contempt, and laugh at his enthusiasm, 



