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THE FLORAL MAGAZINE. 



most eminent botanist, the worthy son of a worthy 

 father, has been subjected by our British iEdile. It is 

 sufficient to put the names in juxtaposition, and all who 

 are acquainted with them will at once know on which 

 side right is most likely to be. All who know anything 

 of Dr. Hooker know him to be a man of eminent ability, 

 of unfailing courtesy, and untiring energy. No one 

 who knows anything of Mr. Ayrton from his public 

 utterances, will accuse him either of ability or courtesy ; 

 and it is therefore no wonder that, when the annoy- 

 ances and vexations to which Dr. Hooker has been 

 subjected have so far worked on him as to make him 

 speak of resignation, men of all parties should at once 

 be filled with alarm, and have no hesitation in placing 

 the blame where it is justly due. Kew Gardens is one 

 of our most cherished national institutions — a place of 

 which every Englishman may be proud, and to equal 

 which he would in vain travel east and west, north and 

 south. Could not, then, Mr. Ayrton — in whose case 

 we must reverse the Latin saying, Quod non tetigit, 

 ornavit," and whose boast it is that he cares nothing 

 about art and gardeners — have left this alone, instead 

 of bringing his meddlesome fussiness to bear upon it? 

 We trust, however, that the storm of indignation which 

 the matter has aroused may have the effect of set- 

 ting matters right, and that Dr. Hooker may be left in 

 the peaceful occupation which he has been engaged in 

 under various Governments, for the good of science, 

 and the enjoyment of vast numbers of the inhabitants 

 of our great metropolis, to whom Kew Gardens are a 

 veritable boon. We are glad to find that energetic 

 measures are being taken, and we hope that the matter 

 may soon be set at rest. 



THE ORIGIN OF GLOIRE DE DiJON ROSE. 



" If you were enabled to grow only one rose, what would 

 you select?" is an inquiry often made, and I believe in 

 many cases the answer would be " Gloire de Dijon j' J it is 

 so vigorous, does so well on any stock, in any situation, 

 on a wall, as a standard, forced, or in any way, that it 

 is, par excellence, the rose for all, and yet it is remark- 

 able that it is entirely a chance seedling. We were 

 recently paying a visit to that quaint old French town 

 of the Bourbonnais, Dijon, and, amongst other things, 

 went to see M. Henri Jacotot, who was the raiser and 

 sender-out of the flower, and he assured us that he 

 could tell nothing about it, that it came up amongst a 

 number of seedlings raised from seed promiscuously sown, 

 and that he had not the slightest idea of its parentage ; 

 and it is a remarkable fact that the same may be said 



of our best roses, while those who have taken the trouble 

 to hybridize have scarcely seen any result worth 

 noticing. Mr. Ward, the raiser of John Hopper (of 

 which he did know the parents), has never equalled it, 

 although he has most carefully hybridized ever since, 

 and it is a curious fact that Jacotot has never sent out 

 another rose worth mentioning. 



R EVI E W. 



The Rose Amateur's Guide, fyc. By Thomas Eivers, 

 Tenth Edition. London : Longmans, Green, and Co, 



The book which we now criticize is so well known in 

 the rose-growing community, and its venerable author 

 so honoured as the man who, par excellence, has given 

 the greatest stimulus to his favourite flower that it has 

 ever received, that many remarks on the excellence 

 and practical character of the book would be super- 

 fluous ; and while Mr. Rivers is, in one sense, a laudator 

 temporis acti, while with pardonable pride he points 

 back to what was done in times past, he is yet so 

 practical that he does not hesitate to acknowledge the 

 onward march of progress. He would not say old 

 Brown Bess was a superior weapon to the Henry- 

 Martini rifle, and so he details new methods of cultiva- 

 tion, improvements on old flowers, and does not hesitate 

 to discard old favourites when better flowers have sup- 

 planted them ; and the whole character of his book 

 may be gathered from this concluding sentence of his 

 preface: — "A practical cultivator, in writing on culti- 

 vation, labours under a disadvantage. He almost 

 obstinately supposes that every one must know some- 

 thing relative to these, with him, every-day opera- 

 tions. He is apt, therefore, not to go sufficiently into 

 detail. I have strenuously combated this feeling, and 

 humbly trust that what I have written on the subject 

 will be found sufficiently explicit." We have only to 

 add that all who grow even a few roses should, if they 

 have it not already, possess themselves of Mr. Rivers' 

 valuable little guide. 



METROPOLITAN FLORAL SOCIETY. 



The third exhibition, to be held at the Crystal Palace 

 on the 28th inst., promises to be the most successful 

 the Society has yet held, and will have the additional 

 interest of a Fruit Show. 



