NATURE'S LAW OP COLORS. 219 



to be, it is astonishing to see the credulity that there 

 is, even among intelligent horticulturists, some of whom 

 believe that we will yet have exceptions to this law, which, 

 as far as all our experience has gone, seems as unalterable 

 as the law of gravitation. If we reflect, we will find 

 there is nothing out of the usual order of nature in this 

 uniformity. The coloring given to the plumage of birds 

 is as unvarying as that given to the petals of a flower in 

 particular families. The most enthusiastic poultry fan- 

 cier will look in vain for the scarlet plumage of the Fla- 

 mingo in his Dorkings or Brahmas, or the color of the Balti- 

 more Oriole in the occupants of his pigeon-house. What 

 more reason, then, has the florist to expect that Nature 

 should deviate from her fixed course, and gladden his 

 eyes with a Rose or Dahlia of an azure hue, or that a Ver- 

 bena or a Petunia should be produced of a golden shade? 



A knowledge of this subject is much needed by our 

 amateur horticulturists, who are imposed upon year 

 after year by itinerant dealers, who with flaming color- 

 ed drawings of these impossibilities in floriculture ex- 

 tract largely from the pockets of their victims, and in addi- 

 tion expose them to the ridicule of their less credulous or 

 more cautious neighbors. The audacity of these scamps 

 is truly astonishing; not a season passes but some of them 

 have the impudence to plant themselves right in the busi- 

 ness centres of the city of New York, and hundreds of 

 our sharp business men have for the consideration of $8 

 or $10, believed themselves to be the- possessors of verita- 

 ble blue Roses. Need I say that they were no less humbug- 

 ged than the rustic who falls into the hands of a mock 

 auctioneer, and chuckles to think that he has become 

 the possessor of a gold watch for a similar price? 



In Rand's "Flowers for the Parlor and Garden," page 

 101, in remarking on the colors of the Verbena, he says a 

 good yellow Verbena has not yet been produced, but 

 goes on to say that he, " by a curious process of water- 



