142 MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Flowers In all ages have been made the representatives of innocence and 

 purity. We decorate the bride and strew her path with flowers; we scatter 

 them over the shell, the bier and the earth, when we consign our mortal 

 blossoms to the dust as emblems of transient joy— fading pleasures — withered 

 hopes; yet rest in sure and certain trust that each in due season will be* 

 renewed again ! 



The love of flowers indeed, seems a naturally implanted passion without 

 any alloy or debasing object as a motive. The cottage has its pink, its rose, 

 and polyanthus. The villa its geranium, its dahlia, and its clematis; we 

 cherish them in youth — we admire them in declining age. 



It was my wish and intention to have noticed some few of the wonderful 

 habits of plants, but want of time (not inclination I assure you) obliges me 

 to relinquish the pleasure. I will, however, just mention several instances 

 in which, with a little attention, the love of flowers may serve to beguile 

 many spare moments, and I can only hope the idea may be followed up by 

 some one amongst your talented contributors. 



It may be observed, that flowers put forth leaves and blossoms regularly 

 — they may he retarded or accelerated by artificial means. In every species 

 (except man) there is a particular period of the year in which the reproduc- 

 tion system exercises its energies, and this may be said to form a sort of 

 Floral Calendar. The Dial of Flora may be kept by watching many sorts — 

 thus the day Lily opens at five in the morning, Dandelion at six, Hawkweed 

 at seven, Marygold at nine, Mesembryanthemum at ten. Many plants prog- 

 nosticate the weather, and may be termed Barometers — others may be named 

 Equinoctial, as they open and shut at fixed hours of the day. From experi- 

 ments made with plants put into a dark cellar, and others lighted by a lamp, 

 it was observed, that some flowers followed the clock hours in opening and 

 closing — the night blowing plants accelerated their motions. The Sensitive 

 plant accommodated itself to the artificial light in three days, and when re- 

 stored to the open air, soon recovered its usual habits. This agreeable 

 subject might be pursued much beyond the fair limits of your paper, but I 

 will not allow my hobby to trespass too far upon your indulgence; so con- 

 clude your well-wisher, Pansit. 



The Grove, March, 1834. 



P.S. Can you tell me whether there is such a plant as the Double While 

 Hepalicaf I have the single white, the blue and pink, double and single. 

 [We never saw one. — Cond.] 



Challenge ! — Twelve gentlemen amateurs, members of the East London 

 Amateur Dahlia Society, held at the Bakers' Arms Tavern, Warner-place, 

 Hackney-road, challenge any twelve gentlemen amateurs, growing Dahlias 

 in the county of Middlesex, to shew, the first week in September, twelve 

 pans of Dahlia blooms, each pan to contain twelve blooms, for any sum 

 above £24 — say £24. The blooms to be of their own growth, and the 

 plants must have been in their possession two months prior to the show. — 

 All communications to be addressed to Mr. I. Ianson, Secretary, at the 

 above Tavern. 



CAMBRIDGESHIRE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



In consequence of the disappointments which the cultivators of florists' 

 flowers have frequently met with at the Society's exhibitions, by reason of 

 the censors awarding prizes to flowers that in some cases ought to have been 

 set aside as wanting the requisite qualities, and in others by their marked 

 preference of flowers that were but lightly esteemed by the most experienced 

 cultivators, it was deemed expedient to appoint a Sub-Committee of the 

 Cambridge Horticultiu - al Society, who drew up the following rules for the 

 guidance of the censors at the Society^ future exhibitions ; and on their 

 being laid before the Society, at a general meeting of the members, they 

 were unanimously adopted, with a request that the utmost publicity should 

 be given, and earnestly calling the attention of the florists of other Societies 



