1852.] THE PHILADELPHIA FLORIST. 209 



Floriculture— " The Lancashire Heroes," Cy 



BY mi. CHORLTON, STATEN ISLAND, N. Y. 



In reading over your September number, I was somewhat amused 

 at your pleasantry respecting the properties of Florist's Flowers and 

 the " Lancashire Heroes." Having been " born, bred, and brought 

 up" in that county of "Baiziers," (Bear's Ears, Primula auricula) 

 Polyanterns (" Primula elatior,) and " Big Tayberries," (Gooseber- 

 ries,) though not claiming to be a hero amongst them, yet 1 may 

 perhaps be able to assist some little in disseminating a trifle of ex- 

 perience in the cultivation of their justly esteemed " hobbies." — 

 Heroes you well name them, not aspiring to glory in the battle field, 

 on the ocean, or in the senate, but true heroes in rural life, contented 

 and happy, good natured and hospitable, so long as the cravings of 

 nature are satisfied, and a few shillings to spend on their favorite 

 flow T ers and gooseberry bushes. No better example of the blessings 

 of rural life, well diiected, can be found than by a sojourn amongst 

 this intellectual, but often neglected class, where trumpet tongued 

 the voice of contentment would speak home to the mind of many a 

 dissatisfied and grovelling wealth seeker. Here will be found a clean 

 garden plot, well filled with the useful and ornamental — each portion 

 allotted off by straight lines and right angles into beds of sweet herbs, 

 vegetables,, and next to his industrious family and honest wife, his 

 greatest and only treasures, Florist's Flowers Upon these he fixes 

 the w r hole bent of his mind during his leisure moments. Here after 

 the day's hard toil he may be seen when the sun goes down, and in 

 the morning when the sparrow wakes. He rides his hobby with an 

 enthusiasm and perseverance to himself only known. His only com- 

 bativeness being a pleasant rivalry with his neighbor, who in his turn 

 strives equally hard for the topper Kettle or New Spade at the next 

 exhibition, w r hen and where he may be seen and heard discussing 

 the nice points and beautiful detail of peifection in form, color and 

 size, with the greatest precision and quaint eloquence. Although 

 moving in so humble a sphere generally, this class of men are capable 

 to a wonderful degree of appreciating the beautiful, and have fixed 

 the criteria of perfection so accurate that even careless observers have 

 been forced to admire, and all have acknowledged their standards of 

 excellence. An impulse has been given to improvements which have 

 become of world wide renown, it examples are wanted, only com- 

 pare the Dahlia, Pink, Carnation, Polyanthus, Auricula, Pansy and 

 many others with the originali, ind ; genors or exotic, and we have 

 ample proof of the benefit that this class has assisted in conferring on 

 our more wealthy lovers of flowers, who have been reposing on their 

 beds of down, while his coarse (and often only) fabric of a coverlet 

 has frequently been protecting his treasured pots, to his own dis- 

 comfiture. Neither is it alone in the improvement of flowers that 

 these men have become a benefit to society, for where the mind 

 constantly delights to dwell, so is the character of the individual fixed, 

 and the study of floweis has a beneficial, moral and religious tendency, 

 producing social, domestic and kind feelings, and leading without 

 sectarian bickering the mind "through Nature up to Nature's God." 

 Again, a mind that is led to appreciate and cultivate these discrimi- 

 nations is naturally, and imperceptibly as it were, led on to order and 

 »v neatness in all its actions, and ultimately a well directed performance Q\ 



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