90 ON NEW ROSES. 



climate very far " north of the Trent." My application of 

 one phrase, " Nature does not advance by leaps," I must 

 pause momentarily to defend. Mr Rivers says, " True as 

 regards unassisted nature, but decidedly false when 

 applied to gardening nature." Now I contend it is true 

 in both cases, and that the question is one of degree rather 

 than of fact. Mr Rivers fairly enough quotes certain 

 instances in support of his views, which he styles " remark- 

 able." 



Now why, I would ask, are these instances considered 

 "remarkable?" Is it not because they are of rare 

 occurence and if so are they not exceptions and as such 

 do they not go to prove my rule? I am perfectly 

 conversant with the cases quoted by Mr Rivers, and 

 could adduce others within my own experience witness 

 Springfield Rival Dahlia where these remarkable leaps 

 have disappeared before the steady power of progressive 

 culture. Would any vegetable physiologist, would any 

 gardener (scientific or practical), seriously repudiate pro- 

 gressive culture, and be content to wait for these remark- 

 able leaps ? Few indeed are they, and far between. 



The question of attaching the purchaser's name to a 

 seedling is usually made a condition of the purchase. 

 And for this reason : the raiser is often unknown to fame, 

 and the purchaser fairly enough uses his own name as a 

 guarantee of good faith to the public. There is no fraud 

 or deception effected or intended, and no secrecy that I 

 am aware of is ever practised. The curious in these 

 matters may readily ascertain the most minute known 

 points of a variety's history. 



