116 THE FLORIST AND 



of the most superior and distinct. I must remark that I think these English 

 varieties though in breadth of petal, regularity of outline and distinct mark- 

 ing of the colors superior to any of our seedlings, are yet far behind us in 

 size, and I have no doubt a little attention from our florists in selecting seed 

 from flowers having good breeding qualities, would be rewarded by some- 

 thing superior. 



In one part of this house were some Ericas; they were of the more difficult 

 kinds of growth, as Ampullacea, Aristata, and Yentricosa ; they were re- 

 markably healthy in appearance. The gardener, Mr. Bell, intends to lend 

 his share of experience in deciding the unsatisfactory question whether 

 Heaths can or cannot be successfully grown in America. Under the stage, 

 in the shade, was a box of the Southern Sarracenia Drummondii, blooming 

 as happily as if in its native bogs ; and in the same curious company I saw 

 our own Goody era pubescens. In another small house there was a fine stock 

 of that new candidate for popular favor the English Daisy. 



When it is recollected how very lately this gentleman has turned his at- 

 tention to floriculture, it may excite surprise at the richness of his collection. 

 } will end by expressing the hope that the pleasure and gratification the pur- 

 suit has already afforded him may increase till it warrants his establishment 

 to be in extension what it already is in richness. 



W. W. Keen's is another establishment which has grown up within the last 

 few years. Commencing with a few window plants, then the small garden, 

 till a small greenhouse was born, Mr. Keen was his own gardener. This 

 practical love of Horticulture is the surest foundation for a lasting source of 

 pleasure in its pursuit. Mr. Keen's establishment has overgrown his indi- 

 vidual care, and for some time past has been under the management of Mr. 

 Wm. Grassie, and I am sure with an increase of pleasure to the proprietor 

 as well as of profit to our profession. The order and neatness which per- 

 vades all parts — the health and beauty of the plants, and their variety and 

 rarity, contrast singularly with things as seen by the writer two years ago, 

 when at the kind invitation of Mr. Keen he paid his first visit there. They 

 were creditable then ; now they will rank with any establishment near the 

 city. A Bletia Tankervillse, with fine spikes of flowers, was a pretty object; 

 a Begonia coccinea, above two feet high and nearly as thick, was covered 

 with bloom, and was the prettiest looking Begonia I had ever seen; a Choro- 

 zema cordata was past its best, also above two feet high and wide — it ap- 

 pears to have borne flower spikes this season by the hundred. An Erica 

 Bowieana, two feet high and about twenty inches thick, covered with its 

 waxy flowers, was " an object." A specimen of the new Azalea "exquisita," 

 above a foot high and as wide, covered with its pinky-white feathery flow- 

 ers, was a gem. The much neglected Mimulus would rise in anybody's es- 



