NOVEMBER 



Present of ' The Botanist' — Echeveria and Euphorbia splendens — 

 Cowper on greenhouses — Cultivation of greenhouse plants — 

 Bookseller at Frankfort — Dr. "Wallace on Lilies — Eeeeipts — 

 Winter in the country — The sorting of old letters. 



Wovember 1st. — One of those most pleasant echoes of 

 my first book came to me to-day. I received a letter, 

 addressed to the care of my publisher, from a lady who 

 was so pleased with my commendation of her father's 

 work ('The Botanic Garden,' by B. Maund) that she 

 kindly asked to be allowed to send me, what I had long 

 wished to have, the five volumes of his second book, 

 ' The Botanist ' — a gardening periodical which was 

 published only for five years, as the coloured illustra- 

 tions were too costly to be continued. The first number 

 was issued in January, 1825. It contains full -page 

 illustrations of stove, greenhouse, and new hardy plants 

 — new, that is, in 1825. I have had it bound, and it is 

 a great addition to my collection of fiower-books. The 

 original drawings were chiefly made by Mrs. Withers, 

 who was the first fiower-painter of that day. The title- 

 page bears the following inscription : 



The Botanist : containing Accurately Coloured 

 Figures of Tender and Hardy Ornamental Plants, 

 with Descriptions Scientific and Popular, intended to 

 convey both Moral and Intellectual Gratification.' A 

 quotation is added from Sir J. B. Smith: 'The world 

 seems to have discovered that nothing about which 

 Infinite Wisdom has deigned to employ itself can, prop- 

 erly speaking, be unworthy of any of its creatures, how 



(86). 



