THE GENESEE FARMER. 



advocates of rural improvement in the United States, and every way competent to 

 appreciate and pronounce upon the character of Mr. Downing and such services as he 

 has rendered. We wish he could be persuaded to perform a like duty at Rochester. 

 Western New York should be foremost in every mark of honor and respect to the char- 

 acter of Mr. Downing, for he was a native of our State. He always took pleasure in 

 alluding to our natural advantages and our progress, and nowhere has his labors been 

 of greater practical utility. 



THE ROSE -COLORED WEIGELIA. (Weigelia Rosea.) 



This new and beautiful shtub, introduced from China, by Mr. Fortune, proves to be a 

 most valuable acquisition. It proves perfectly hardy at Rochester, having stood the 

 past severe winter en- 

 tirely unharmed, and 

 bloomed profusely in 

 the month of May. 

 The plants were 

 young, too, only one 

 season's growth from 

 cuttings. The flowers 

 are in shape similar 

 to the foxglove, of a 

 beautiful deep rosy 

 crimson, changing to 

 a blush. The later 

 and earlier expanded 

 flowers produce a fine 

 contrast, which is one 

 of the charms of this 

 elegant shrub worthy 

 of note. It makes a 

 pretty spreading bush, 

 in foliage resembling 

 a syringa. It is prop- 

 agated easily from 

 cuttings of the young 

 wood, or from layers. 

 Mr. HovEY, in his 

 Magazine, says that it 

 has blossomed well in 



his grounds, and that " small plants standing in a cold, damp locality, did not hav 

 much as a single shoot injured." We recommend it in the smallest collections, 

 following is Fortune's account of its discovery : 



" When I first discovered this beautiful plant it was growing in a Mandarin's garden, in the island 

 of Chiisan, and literally loaded with fine rose-colored flowers, which hung in graceful bundles from 

 the axils of the leaves and the ends of the branches. The garden, which was an excellent specimen 

 of the peculiar style bo much admired by the Chinese in the north, was often visited by the officer? 

 of the regiment who were quartered at Tinghae, and was generally called the Grotto, on account of 

 the pretty rock-work with which it was ornamented. Every one saw and admired the beautiful 

 Weigelia, which was also a great favoi"ite with the old gentleman to whom the place belonged. I 

 immediately marked it as one of the finest plants of Northern China, and determined to send plants 

 of it homo in every ship until I should hear of its safe arriv.il." 



e so 

 The 



