THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



love for flowers, is it likely to do so, though there 

 are staid men of business among us who would 

 doubtless be amazed at the sums of money even now 

 occasionally lavished on a single plant. A noble 

 Duke, munificent in his patronage of horticulture, 

 as in everything else, and who though till quite 

 lately, we believe, ignorant of the subject now 

 understands it as thoroughly as he appreciates it, is 

 said to have given one hundred guineas for a single 

 specimen of an orchideous plant ; and we know of 

 another peer, not quite so wise in this or perhaps 

 other matters, who, seeing a clump of the rich and 

 gorgeous double-flowering gorse, instantly gave his 

 gardener an order for fifty pounds' worth of it ! 



Before we have done with the florists and botanists, 

 we must say one word about their nomenclatures. 

 As long as the extreme vulgarity of the one and the 

 extreme pedantry of the other continue, they must 

 rest assured that they will scare the majority of this 

 fastidious and busy world from taking .any great 

 interest in their pursuits. Though " a rose by any 

 other name will smell as sweet," there is certainly 

 enough to prejudice the most devoted lover of flowers 

 ;i irainst one that comes recommended by some such de- 

 signation as " Jim Crow," or " Metropolitan purple,'' 

 or " King Boy," or " Yellow Perfection." When 

 indeed calceolarias and pansies increase to 2000 

 " named varieties," there must of course be some 

 difficulty in finding out an appropriate title for every 

 new upstart ; but in this case the evil lies deeper 

 than the mere name: it consists in puffing and 



