PROCEEDINGS OF THE HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 617 



sngg'csted, lie would request that a set of prizes be given for bouquets 

 made up in tlie natural way, and in this manner we wuuld do away with 

 the strait-laced style. The flowers should not be crushed together like a 

 crowd in the street, but they should be arranged in their individual beauty, 

 so as to be seen under as well as on the surface. 



Here are some two or three kinds of the Magnolia; one of them is the 

 M. soulangiana, slightly striped; another, M.ohovala, purple; and M. Alex- 

 andria, deep crimson, striped. The trees on which these grow are of the 

 Chinese variety, and are generally of medium height, but he has seen some 

 of our native species, macrophylla and others, nearly 100 feet high. The 

 great fault with the Chinese Magnolia is, that its flowers appear before the 

 leaves. If it could be made to flower when the tree is in leaf, it would be 

 magnificent; but it is very beautiful as it is 



The next flower in the bouquet is the Mahonia aquifoUa, from the Rocky 

 Mountains. The seeds of this plant were originally brought home by Lew- 

 is and Clark. It is a very beautiful evergreen plant. This is a double 

 white flowering Peach from China, one of the best of recent introductions. 

 There are also double crimson, double rose, and double carnation striped 

 varieties of the Peach, all of them handsome objects for the lawn. Here is 

 a species of Ilex, the English holly, which is very pretty to look at, but 

 vwy bad to handle, as its leaves are armed with sharp spikes. It is a 

 splendid evergreen, bnt usually needs winter protection with us. This is 

 the Diehjtra spectahilis, sometimes called the bleeding heart, a name which 

 he hoped would be discarded. He asked if there was anything pleasant in 

 the idea of a bleeding heart, yet the flower is exceedingly pretty. It is a 

 hardy herbaceous plant from China. Here is the Cydonia Japonica, or Japan 

 quince, a beautiful scarlet flower that opens early in the spring. It is per- 

 fectly hardy, and every way desirable. 



He wished to speak of the Orchids. This is a Laelia. It is a common 

 notion with many that orchids can only flourish in a high temperature, but 

 he had seen Lycastes, Oncidiums, &c., blooming finely where the tempera- 

 ture was allowed to go down to 45 degrees every nig;ht in winter. If this 

 can be done, considerable fuel can be saved at least. 



One great drawback to the advancement of Horticulture in this country, 

 is that plants, to sell well, must have a foreign name and reputation. If 

 Mr. Henderson, who raised this beautiful Heliotrope, the Belle of Jersey, 

 had imported it from Europe under the name of the Belle of Lancaster, he 

 would have sold five thousand where he has now sold one. He had seen a 

 great deal of this. He had seen fine flowers in the hands of our florists 

 year after year that could not be sold for want of a proper endorsement. 

 The late George Thorburn was forced once to resort to the expedient of 

 exporting and importing the same flowers to make them saleable here; and 

 where he could not sell a few dozen before at 50 cents, he then sold hun- 

 dreds of the same plant at a dollar ! and now this is done over and over 

 again. We must raise our own seedlings, and seek some means to beget 

 public confidence in them. The best Verbenas, Heliotropes, &c., now in 

 cultivation have been raised in this country. 



The President alluded to this desire for foreign plants, and gave as one 

 reason the lack of any recognized standard or body to endorse a variety 



