H6 Foreign JS^otices. 



roses bearing the same name; and, if the original, or most superior va- 

 riety, is ordered, ten to one it" you can tjet it; iis the French florist ccn- 

 erally ^ives you that which is most convenient for him to send, quite 

 regardless of what you wish for. This is carried to an extreme of which 

 only those well and intimately acquainted with roses can form a just 

 idea." — {Gard. Mag.) [We have found this, ourselves, to be precisely 

 the case. But not oidy does the practice prevail with roses, but with 

 almost every class of popular plants. The catalogues of camellias, in 

 particular, abound with synonyms: we have known one kind to have 

 benn received under four names. AVe have been disajipointed in the 

 same way in which Mr. Rivers remarks; out of a large collection of 

 superb roses which were received, but few of them were distinct. The 

 penchant of the French florists to acqiiire a speedy fortune and then 

 to retire from the trade is so great, that they resort to every means to 

 do so. The English gardeners have, heretofore, had but little to do 

 with the French cultivators, on this account, except in roses, in which 

 flower they so greatly excel. Those who import plants fron) the French 

 nurserymen must prepare themselves for disa])pointment. — £c?.] 



Discrimination of Soils. — " Define your terms." Nothing can be 

 wiser than this precept; for "confusion worse confounded" cannot be, 

 than that which prevails in the attemjits made to describe soils. Loams 

 of all textures, marls, chalky, sandy soils, all are involved in ])erploxity 

 and mystery; and these can only be removed by a due attention to 

 chemical analyses. On one subject only it is the object of the present 

 notice to insist; because it may, without much waste of room, be imme- 

 diately understood. 



Gardeners are constantly using the word peat' Now what do they 

 intend to ex|)ress.'' Peat-=-properly so called — is the stiff" adhesive mass 

 of decayed vegetation which is dug out of peat-bogs or tubaries: peo- 

 ple burn it, and the ashes prove a valuable manure to cold stiff" lands. 

 But (re-ih peal is to the gardener a vile inert mass — a su!)stance so infi- 

 nitely super-cbarged with swamped vegetable matters, when compared 

 to the small proportions of earthly constituents in union with them, that 

 decomposition cannot proceed. Time and long keeping will, however, 

 render bog-peat a valuable soil to some plants. But gardeners allude 

 to something else when they talk or write about peat! We presume, 

 then, that they mean heath or moor soil — that light, black, very sandy 

 earth which is found on, not below the surface of heath-connnons. 

 Now, as no two soils can be more antagonist to each other other than 

 are those of the moor and the bog, for the sake of precision and of 

 good faith, let us express our real meaning. 



We have urged this point on every occasion, and in every publication 

 within our influence, and now take advantage of this widely diffused 

 periodical. "Verbum satis" — a word to the wise. But our purpose 

 will not be eflfected till we come to the charge again and again, and 

 make good, by chemical proof, that peat-bog is any thing but heath 

 (sandy moor) soil! — {Hort. Jour.) 



Art. II. Foreign Notices. 

 ENGLAND. 



Prize Dahlias. — We subjoin the following lists of the names of dahl- 

 ias which gained the premier prizes at several of the principal shows 



