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KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



wake of the vessel for several days. When 

 hauled up at the end of this time, the corals 

 were found to he sweet and pure. The little 

 scavengers of the deep had entered the minutest 

 cells; and had eaten up what, in consequence of 

 putrefaction, would soon, as on a former occa- 

 sion, have sent forth an offensive odor. — 

 D. Landsborough. 



The Wellington Pageant. — You are much to 

 he commended, Mr. Editor, for the manner in 

 which you have spoken about the late " Grand 

 Procession." There was indeed nothing "so- 

 lemn " about it. It was simply "a show;" and 

 no more. I agree with you, that it was little 

 better than a " puppet-show." I see a Avriter 

 iu " Household Words " has been far more severe 

 than yourself; nor have the respectable Journals, 

 collectively, hesitated to speak their minds as 

 freely about it. The day was a day of feasting, — 

 not of fasting. There was nothing whatever to 

 induce solemnity, either of thought or feeling. 

 It was altogether a grand mistake. Of all men, 

 the departed Duke would have been the very 

 first to repudiate such unmeaning "honor" paid 

 to the dead. — Peregrinator. 



[We have received a number of communica- 

 tions to a similar purport; but we think this one 

 will be quite sufficient to mark the sense of the 

 whole. We have elsewhere expressed our feel- 

 ings on the matter. There was no attempt at 

 " solemnity.'' It "was simply a pageant, which 

 the multitude gazed at, — turning the remainder 

 of the day into one of enjoyment. This ought 

 not to have been the case; but it was a Govern- 

 ment transaction, and it is therefore beyond our 

 jurisdiction. All who are real friends of the 

 worthy Duke, must have been disgusted 

 indeed with the empty display !] 



The Moss Rose. — There are some very curious 

 and interesting particulars, Mr. Editor, in the 

 " Gardeners' Record," respecting the origin of 

 the moss rose. I send them to you, believing 

 they are worthy a place in Our Own. The 

 writer is Mr. H. Shailer, residing at Chapel 

 Nursery, Battersea Fields. He says: — On the 

 first introduction of the old red Moss Pose, it was 

 sent over with some plants of orange trees from 

 the Italian States to Mr. Wrench, then a nursery- 

 man and gardener at Broomhouse, Fulham, in 

 or about the year 1735. It remained in that 

 family nearly twenty years, without being much 

 noticed or circulated, until a nurseryman of the 

 name of Grey, of the Fulham nursery (now 

 Messrs. Osborn's), brought it into note. In 

 speaking of the first production of the white moss 

 rose, Avhich took place in the year 1788, the first 

 birth was from a sucker or under -ground shoot. 

 My father, Henry Shailer, nurseryman, of Little 

 Chelsea, an extensive grower of moss roses,* per- 

 ceiving it to be a lusua natures, from a stool of 

 the red Moss, cut it off and budded it on the 

 white Provins, or Rose La Blanche Unique. 

 The buds flowered the following season a pale 

 blush; he budded them again the following 

 season. It became much whiter, It was then 

 figured in Andrews' " Rosery," under the name 



* Faulkner's " History of Chelsea." 



of Shailer's White Moss. He then sold it out ; 

 the first plants to Lord Kimbolton, then to the 

 Marquis of Elandford, Lady de Clifford, the 

 Duke of Gloucester, &c, at five guineas per 

 plant. He continued to sell it at that price for 

 three years. He then entered into a contract 

 with Messrs. Lee and Kennedy of Hammersmith ; 

 they taking as many plants as he could grow for 

 three years at 20s. per plant, binding him not to 

 sell to any one else under 42s. per plant. After 

 cutting down the shoots which produced the 

 white moss, it threw up two weak shoots, which 

 he buchred. from; they flowered the second season 

 from the buds. That was the birth of the striped 

 Moss Rose, a most beautiful and delicate variety; 

 but when groAvn very strong, apt to go back to 

 the original parent. The first production of the 

 single red Moss Rose in 1807, was a sport of 

 nature. My father sent some plants of moss 

 roses down to a nurseryman of the name of 

 Essex, in Colchester. On the receipt of a letter 

 from that person, I went with my father to see 

 it when it was in bloom. I took some cuttings 

 away with me to bud, and fetched the original 

 plant away in the following autumn to our 

 nursery at Little Chelsea. We sent the first 

 plants out at 5s. On the first production of the 

 old scarlet moss rose, which is a semi-double, it 

 flowered on a plant given by my father to his 

 brother, Mr. F. Shailer, of Cook's Ground, and 

 Queen's Elm, Chelsea, in 1808, nurseryman. 

 The first production of the Moss de Meaux, was 

 from a sport of nature from the old De Meaux, 

 in the neighborhood of Bristol; but brought into 

 a high state of perfection by Messrs. Lee of Ham- 

 mersmith. The birth of the sage-leaf Moss Rose 

 I must claim myself. It was a sport of nature. 

 I discovered it on a Sunday afternoon, in the 

 month of June, 1813. I sold the whole stock to 

 Messrs. Lee, of Hammersmith. It has a delicate 

 shell-like form, and is a beautiful blush; it is 

 now nearly extinct. The Pose Blanche Unique, 

 or White Provins, was discovered by Mr. Dauiel 

 Grimwood, of . Little Chelsea, nurseryman; he 

 was on a journey of business in the county of 

 Norfolk, in the month of July, 1775; when riding 

 very leisui*ely along the road, he perceived a rose 

 of great whiteness within a mill; he alighted, and 

 on close inspection, he discovered it to be a 

 Provins Rose. He then sought an interview with 

 the inmate of the mill, who was an elderly female. 

 He begged a flower, which was instantly given 

 him; in return, he gave her a guinea. In cutting 

 off the flower, he cut three buds. He went to 

 the first inn, packed it up, and sent it direct to 

 my father, at his nursery, Little Chelsea, who 

 was then his foreman — requesting him to bud it, 

 which he did. Two of the buds grew. In the 

 following autumn, he went down to the same 

 place; where for five guineas he brought the 

 whole stock away. He then made an arrange- 

 ment with my father to propagate it, allowing 

 him 5s. per plant for three years. At the expi- 

 ration of that time, he sold it out at 21s. per 

 plant— my father's share amounting to upwards 

 of £300. Mr. Grimwood sent the old lady at the 

 mill a superb silver tankard, &c, to the amount 

 of £60. The Shailer's Provins, or Rosa gracilis 

 ("so named by Messrs. Lee), was raised from the 

 seeds of the spineless, or Virgin's Rose, sown by 



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