Calls at Gardens and J^urseries. 107 



its bud, owing, probably, to tlie wealcness of the plant; but there is no 

 doubt it will be a desirable sort. Derni is a handsome, rather dark red, 

 flower, and had one blossom expanded, Avhich was very much blotched 

 or marbled with white. Lindleyi is another pleasing variety, the color 

 is a bright, soft pink, and the flower only semi-double. Pisbnia J\lou- 

 tan joapaveracea and p. var. BanksiVe have both been in bloom. The 

 noisette rose Lamarque is now fidl of large and prominent buds, which 

 will produce elegant flowers; this is one of the best roses we are ac- 

 quainted with, and, in our opinion, is nearl}' equal to the yellow tea. 



In the stove the cactuses are growing very strong, and some of the 

 kinds will probably flower finely; but a large part of them, and espe- 

 cially those that are new, will not bloom until another season. The 

 pit here continues to work well; one or two slight alterations have been 

 made, by which the heat is entirely at command; the various plants 

 plunged in the soil show the genial heat of the pit. 



Mr. Leathers. — In the span-roofed house here the plants look finely; 

 their growth is more upright tiian in houses with onl^one angled roofs. 

 These kind of houses are very desirable for showing plants, as there is 

 light on all sides. We hope to see them oftener erected: we are con- 

 fident they are better adapted to the growth of some plants, particularly 

 geraniums, which require to be placed near the glass, where they may 

 have all the advantage of the light and air, to prevent their being drawn 

 up. _ ^ . 



Among the flowers in bloom are Rhododendron Russelharjum and 

 ponticum, the former most magnificent: one plant will have upon it six 

 or seven fine umbels, wholly expanded, in a few days. The pseony, 

 which we have noticed before, p. 76, is the same variety as we have 

 supposed it to be; we have compared it with Mr. Sabine's description, 

 in the Horticultural Transactions, and also given in our vol. ii. p. 371, 

 and find it to agree exactly in every point. The foliage is very difl^erent 

 from the other varieties in our collections, more resembling some of the 

 herbaceous kinds^ The flower is of a blush or delicate pink — the petals 

 very much lacerated at the edges; there is no doubt of its being the P. 

 Moiitanpa\^a.\ erkcea var. Rawesn Sabine. The history of the introduction 

 of this variety is curious, and may not be uninteresting to our readers. 

 When Mr. Gushing resided in Canton, he sent home to Col. Perkins sev- 

 eral plants; among them was this paeony. It Avas not supposed by Mr. 

 Cushing, that we are aware of, that it was a new variety', unless the I'osea, 

 and the plant, which came out in tolerable good order, was treated in the 

 same manner as others of the tribe then existing in Col. Perkins's col- 

 lection. We do not know the period at which it first flowered, but we 

 saw it in bud, for the first time, in the spring of 1334. We then ex- 

 pressed an opinion, that frojii the descriptions of all the pseonies which 

 we had previously read, that it was a new variety, and not the ?*6sea. 

 We have not seen the plant since. The one Mr. Leathe has was a 

 sucker from Col. Perkins's, and has now blossomed for the first time. 



It seems singular that in all the attempts that have been made by 

 English amateurs and nurserymen to introduce new paeonies, only 

 one plant of this variety, out of thousands of plants that have been 

 imported into that country, should have ever been received. We have 

 no knowledge of any other, and we may hence conclude that the plant 

 mentioned by Mr. Sabine is the parent of all that ma}' be existing in 

 the European gardens. Here, however, we have it imported, but a few 

 j'ears after it was sent to England. Perhaps if our merchants, who 

 have established houses in Canton, were to persevere, the yelloiv, the 

 blue! and even black!! might be accidentally introduced: we say ac- 

 cidentally, for the selfishness of the Chinese is so great that they would 

 not permit their choicest sorts to be sold, or, if sold, would palm off the 

 common Binksice for them: thus the chance of getting anew variety 



