144 THE PHILADELPHIA FLO RIST. [Sept'r. 



sts^?- " ^sm 



Q colours, (except blue), which now are met with every where, until W\ 



Dahlias have become so common or vulgar, or something else notw 

 y desirable, that almost every person en bon ton discards them from his T> 



1 garden plot. Forty Blooms are required this month to compete for ] 

 a silver medal at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Pelargo- 

 niums form another group of the florist's favorites, of all shapes and 

 hues in leaf and flower. They are by no means the most valueless of 

 these artificial creations. Carnations from Dianthus Caryophyllus 

 divided into Carnations, Picotees, Pinks, and again into Flakes, Bi- 

 zarres Selfs, are great favorites with the ladies; Auriculas must not be 

 omitted, Chijsanthemums are now attracting much attention espe- 

 cially the daisy sorts. Calceolarias have had a great run, and Holly- 

 hocks are daily improving ; then with Tulips, Hyacinths, .Ranuncu- 

 lus, Anemones, Asters, &c, winding up with the never dying Rose, 

 we complete this brief enumeration of some of the varieties of flor- 

 ist's flowers. But how many important points are to be determined 

 before a decision is arrived at, as to the comparative merit of our 

 florist's flowers. How jovially two old fogies of the real old school, 

 will set themselves to determine those nice points of fringed petals, 

 broken calyx, weak stem, open eye, sported colours, imperfect form, 

 and the hundred and one peculiarities of structure or form which at 

 once meet the eye of the practised florist; they can with the greatest 

 facility point unerringly to defects which the botanist never would 

 dream of, nor even the anatomist discover. But they have their 

 standard of perfection. We cannot complain that we are uninterest- 

 ed in the trifling differences, 'tis their forte as much as the peculiar 

 insertion of the stamen is a matter of moment to us ; allow them to 

 enjoy their forte, nay, encourage them in their aim to arrive at what 

 they have decided to be excellence. We must, however, in reply to 

 our clamorous friends in Floriculture promise to engage for their es- 

 pecial benefit, a person to superintend this department, that is when 

 we increase our circulation to such an amount as to warrant the ex- 

 penditure, or else, rather than make pretensions to he a Floriculturist, 

 we will leave the entire department to the superintendance of the 

 challenge florist, a little further northeast, and confine ourselves to 

 muck and Cabbages, Fuchsias, Camellias and such like; or finally, 

 we must draw upon some of the old Lancashire Heroes for matter in 

 their own line, in their own native slyle v 



Gardens of Industrial Institutions, Colleges, &c. 



Horticulture presents its claims to the attention of the public in a 

 very important light, viz : with respect to its influence and profit in 

 public institutions. The reproductive principle now so well under- 

 stood, partly we must admit by means of the arguments of the Com- 

 munists a rather unpopular class of Philanthropists, has brought the 

 question to our very doors, and it is now demanded whether Orphan 

 Schools, Charitable Asylums, Alms Houses, Hospital, Prisons, &c, 

 shall continue a tax on operative society or remunerate by their own 

 system of reproductive machinery, society for their establishment 

 and maintainance while in a state of progression ; when we see the 

 city darkened by the massive prison and carry our eye around it to 

 discover how much of the soil of the earth has been allotted for its 

 .-.unfortunate inmates, how much of its ameliorating influence has been^\ 

 ^brought to bear in the shape of a farm, vegetable or even flower £*j 



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