PROCEEDINGS OF THE HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION 693 ^ 



excellent quality, which is, it will bear as much ill usage as almost any 

 plant. 



We next come to the Rose, most justly styled the queen of flowers, 

 and is deservedly admired by every one, not only for the beauty of its 

 flowers, but also for its exquisite fragrance. I regret I cannot show you 

 this evening some more beautiful specimens than these, and further ad- 

 vanced in blossom, but the severe weather during the last month, with the 

 great want of sun, has caused them to be a fortnight later than they other- 

 wise would have been. There are two principal classes among roses; the 

 one called monthly or everblooming, consisting of the Bengal and Tea 

 roses, the Bourbons, and most of the Noisettes. The flowers of this class 

 generally possess more or less of that peculiar odor or perfume called tea- 

 scented, from its supposed resemblance to tea leaves when rubbed in the 

 hand. Among these is to be found almost every variety of color from white 

 to very nearly black, yellow, orange, and even green, so that a beautiful 

 bouquet may be made of roses only, possessing every diversity of color, 

 without the aid of any other flowers. The other class is composed of the 

 Remontants and Perpetuals, or roses that only produce one set of fine blos- 

 soms, but afterwards are continually throwing up a few stray flowers, more 

 especially in the fall of the year. These belong to that class of roses from 

 which that most exquisite of all perfumes is produced, the Attar or Otto of 

 Roses. There are other classes of the rose, such as the climbing rose and 

 the summer or June rose — the former very beautiful for covering trellises 

 and verandas, and among the latter are some very showy and sweet roses, but 

 generally they are not well adapted for pot culture or for forcing into flow- 

 er at this period of the year, with however one bright exception which muet 

 be made in favor of the lovely moss rose. This beautiful rose requires to 

 be grown in pots- for a twelvemonth before forcing it, otherwise it does not 

 flower well, but when this is attended to and the pot becomes well filled 

 with roots, it may be forced so as to flower as early as Februarj'-, and a 

 more beautiful object than a well grown moss rose cannot be imagined. 



We now come to a very different type of flower, the Calla or yEihiopian 

 Lily, the flowers and leaves of which are equally beautiful. This plant is 

 of easy culture, thriving perfectly well grown in a pot as you now perceive 

 it, or it may be placed entirely in water and grown in a similar way to the 

 common yellow and white Lily that we see in almost every pond or stream. 

 Beautiful as the lilies arc, unfortunately there are but few that will bear 

 forcing so as to flower in winter, excepting that most lovely and fragrant 

 little variety, the Gonvalaria or Lily of the Valley, which thrives well if 

 taken up in the fall and planted in pots, when it may be brought into the 

 forcing house so as to flower at this season. The Lily, like the Rose, is a 

 very numerous family and embraces flowers of the greatest diversity of 

 form and color, but with few exceptions, as before observed, are more 

 fitted for garden culture than for forcing in pots. 



Boumrdia. — This invaluable winter flowering plant consists of but few 

 varieties, but tho.se few are all beautiful and free flowering. It is also one 

 of those few plants that the more the flowers are cut off the more it pro- 

 duces, for generally whenever a blossom is cut off" the stem invariably 

 produces three more shoots, which in their turn, in a short time, have 



