KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



181 



countenance of Cousin Walter, and lie bent 

 his forehead for a moment upon his doubled 

 hand ; "and E am poor, Fanny !" 



" Poor!' 1 I exclaimed, with the most inno- 

 cent wonder. 



" Aye ! poor, Fanny ! owing my bread to 

 your father's bounty ; and he is not rich, you 

 know, my dear. It would be villanous in me 

 to try to engage the affections of Isabella 

 Forester under such circumstances, and yet 

 I am sure she knows I love her." 



" But you are sure of nothing with regard 

 to her ?" I remarked, with assumed coldness. 



11 Do you think so, Fanny? Do you think 

 her altogether indifferent ?" 



" She has been accustomed to admiration, 

 ever since she knew what it meant." 



"True, true! 1 ' 



" And will be a great telle next winter." 



" Aye, and forget me, Fanny ; it is but 

 right and natural." 



" It seems she has but a glance or two to 

 forget." 



" What would you have me do?" 



"In truth, Walter, I am not a very sage 

 adviser, and perhaps shall, girl-like, speak 

 more from the heart than head ; but of one 

 thing I am sure, if 'Bel Forester had a 

 brother, he would be demanding your inten- 

 tions." 



" Oh ! it would be wrong- " 



" If there is wrong, Walter, it has been 

 committed already." 



Cousin Walter looked troubled ; and 

 thereupon ensued one of those long, confi- 

 dential communings that 'Bel's coming so 

 entirely interrupted. It ended in unfolding 

 the little package, though "Walter blushed 

 as though he had been detected in a crime. 

 He had reason to blush. A full-grown boy 

 of nineteen making a present of a copy of 

 Lalla Rookh, and pencil-marked, too ! Yes, 

 as I live, along a certain line stanza com- 

 mencing, 



"There's a bliss beyond all that the minstrel 

 has told," 



there was a line drawn quite distinctly. Oh ! 

 how closely I held my fingers over my lips 

 to prevent the laugh ! But it icould burst 

 forth ; and though Cousin Walter looked 

 exceedingly mortified, he could not but join 

 in it. 



I fancied thnt the country grew rather dull 

 to 'Bel, after Walter left us ; and she had 

 really acquired quite a tinge of sentimentality 

 when she was taken home. She has since 

 become a very great belle, as I expected ; 

 does not like to talk of her visit to the 

 country ; and is very impatient if I chance 

 to mention to her the name of Cousin Walter. 

 She may have forgotten him. I know not, 

 but I do know when she opened a little 

 cabinet the other day, containing a few 

 precious keepsakes, I discovered a pretty 



volume with an embossed morocco cover, 

 that I had seen before. On taking it up, it 

 opened of itself, and my eyes fell upon the 

 words — 



" There's a bliss beyoDd all that the minstrel 

 has told," 



for the pressed remains of my poor rose-bud 

 lay carefully treasured between the leaves. 



Cousin Walter is to be admitted next 

 winter ; and then a-hem ! ! 



CHOICE FLOWERS, 



AND 



GOOD FLOWER SEED. 



The difficulty of procuring a bit of good 

 seed of any flower of which collections are 

 grown, is much greater than any ordinary 

 person would conceive. There is not a seed 

 shop in town at which we may not obtain 

 Polyanthus, Pink, Geranium, Dahlia, Pansy, 

 Carnation, Picotee, Verbena, Ranunculus. 

 Anemone ; indeed, we may say all the seeds 

 of florists' flowers ; yet it is not in the range 

 of probabilities that any one of these could 

 be had good enough to repay the grower, by 

 even a solitary improved flower, for the 

 trouble and pains and labor of growing them. 

 Why is this ? Simply because, if there were 

 any chance of valuable acquisitions, the 

 florist who sowed the seeds would have grown 

 all himself. But it may be said that some 

 nurseries grow their own seed. No doubt 

 of it; but there is another strong reason for 

 not parting with seed that gives hope of a 

 good flower. One instance will explain the 

 whole matter ; for all cultivators know that 

 it is extremely difficult to save seed from the 

 best flowers, while common ones seed freely. 

 A correspondent, writing in the " Gardeners' 

 Journal" says: — I have known that, after 

 taking great pains, not ten pods were saved 

 from a large collection of Pinks, while a 

 neighboring gardener, from single and semi- 

 double sorts only, saved a pound of seed. It 

 is so with everything. Last year, almost 

 every double flower was useless for seed, 

 while the common varieties gave plenty. 



Not long since, a friend was desirous of 

 procuring, at any cost, a few good Carnation 

 seeds. A grower, in the country, offered 20 

 seeds for two guineas, and considered himself 

 liberal ; and we recollect, from the pedigree, 

 we thought so too, for not one in a thousand 

 will part with a grain, if they succeed in ob- 

 taining a pod from a first-rate flower. Some 

 varieties of Dahlias do not yield a pod of seed 

 to a hundred pounds. Many desirable kinds 

 will not give seed ; and a batch of seedlings, 

 three-fourths of which are single and semi- 

 double, yield abundantly, and furnish a good 

 crop for the supply of the shops. In short, 

 it is morally impossible to produce fine seed 



