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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Emperors and Empresses, the Duchess of Westminster and Sir 

 Watkin Wynn ; the Hyacinths and Tulips, the long series of 

 lovely Iris, beginning with Bakeriana and Reticulata ; then the 

 Paeonies, the Eoses, the Larkspurs, the Poppies, Pyrethrums, 

 Phloxes ; the Carnations (I have to express my gratitude to the 

 Messrs. Dickson, of Chester, for the popularity conferred on my 

 wife, "Mrs. Reynolds Hole," which made her "the pink of 

 fashion," even in the buttonhole of princes), and beside all these 

 " an innumerable company of angels " — are not our flowers the 

 fairest messengers of our heavenly Father's love ?— and then 

 the Lilies and Cannas, Gladioli, Daisies, the Hollyhocks and 

 Helianthus, Asters, Dahlias, and hardy Chrysanthemums; and we 

 return once more to our Christmas Rose, mourning the absence 

 of our beloved, and singing dolefully, " Tell me, shepherds, have 

 you seen my Flora pass this way ? " though we know, and the 

 shepherds know, that she never comes out in the snow. 



I may not forget the flowering trees and shrubs, the Lilacs, 

 the Laburnums, the charming Malus floribunda, with its tiny 

 fruit, suggestive of a doll's dessert or a pomological show in 

 Liliput, the Ribes, Pyrus japonica, the Prunus Pissardi, with its 

 bright white flowerets amid its rich bronzy leaves, the blue 

 Ceanothus " Gloire de Versailles," Forsythias, Weigelas, white, 

 pink, and scarlet Thorns, the Almonds, the Cherries, and the 

 Crabs, the Brooms and Gorses, the Azaleas and Rhododendrons, 

 the Syringas, Cistus, Daphnes, Indigoferas, and Spiraeas. 



Nor can I omit the "Annuals." We must have our Sweet 

 Peas, of which there are now such exquisite varieties, our 

 Mignonette, and Stocks, Dianthus, Godetia, Phlox Drummondii, 

 Saponaria, Salpiglossis, Sweet Sultan, and a bevy of fair com- 

 panions, as bright and beautiful as they. 



And what shall I say about that system of floriculture which 

 goes by the name of "Bedding Out"? I have already said a 

 good deal and written a good deal against it, because I have 

 seen the great harm which it has done in so many of your 

 gardens, by the expulsion of flowering shrubs and our favourite 

 hardy flowers to make way for geometrical beds of more brilliant 

 hues, or tender plants, which were at the mercy of a thunder- 

 storm; which left an unsightly display of bare soil, when they 

 were removed in autumn, and occupied a large portion of the 



