8 Retrospective View of the 



The phloxes are now attracting much attention among the 

 Continental and English nurserymen ; since the introduction 

 of the Van Houtteii, Princess Marianne, and other new ones, 

 a collection of the best is considered indispensable to the 

 amateur cultivator. Some of the French and Belgian cata- 

 logues number more than 40 kinds. During our tour we saw 

 many of the best in flower, but none of the striped ones ex- 

 celled the seedlings of our friend Mr. Carter, of the Cambridge 

 Botanic Garden, whose Henry Clay and Frelinghuysen, not 

 to name several others, are more beautifully variegated 

 than the Van Houtteii No tribe can be more valuable than 

 the phloxes : they need no protection like a pelargonium, or a 

 camellia, and will grow in any soil, and in almost any situ- 

 ation. Herbaceous paeonies are also now great favorites, since 

 the production of the new double varieties by the French 

 florists : their catalogues contain upwards of forty double 

 sorts ; many of them said to be superb. This tribe has 

 not been neglected by our own amateurs. In Salem several 

 seedlings have been raised, and an amateur gentleman in 

 the vicinity of Boston has produced three or four fine new 

 double ones ; Pottsii and Reevesii, he informs us, are the best 

 breeders, and flowering plants may be obtained in from four 

 to six years. 



The importation of several of the finest kinds of fuchsias, 

 has contributed to render this flower more popular. It is to 

 be hoped, now that we have the parents necessary to produce 

 good seeds, that we may be no longer dependant upon our 

 transatlantic friends for new varieties. They are all exceed- 

 ingly beautiful, and deserving of the most extensive growth. 

 F. Chauvieru is one of the largest and best. Mr. Buist has 

 raised a seedling pelargonium of much merit, and Mr. Feast of 

 Baltimore has produced several fine azaleas; in petunias 

 there is room for much improvement ; our varieties all possess 

 too much similarity : The fine sorts we noticed in England, 

 were very large, beautiful, and distinct. 



The cultivation of the rose, and the introduction of new 

 varieties, continues to increase. The new classes of hybrid 

 perpetuals, of which the La Reine of M. Laffay is one of 

 the best, and the Bourbons, are taking the place of the old 

 perpetuals and other everblooming kinds : it is quite aston- 



