THE OLEANDER. 
229 
inasmuch as pending experiments have proved the entire absence of some common 
and most essential ingredients in earths, apparently of very rich quality ; and so it 
happens everywhere ; for appearances, especially of texture and colour, go for 
very little, when success may depend upon the presence or absence of a two 
hundredth part of a phosphate, muriate, or oxalate, which cannot be traced by 
the most delicate mechanic investigation. Man cannot command the seasons, the 
absence or presence of solar light or heat : but he can detect and regulate the 
condition of inorganic elements. 
While we are upon this subject, we wish to make known that our respected 
friend, Mr. Towers, of Maidenhead, Berks, having had considerable experience in 
the processes of chemical analysis, will undertake the operation for any gentleman 
or culturist who seeks to proceed with certainty in a matter of such moment. 
His charges will only be such as will fairly compensate the expense of apparatus^ 
and chemical tests, and time and labour bestowed. 
THE OLEANDER. 
"We cannot but regret to see, in the present day of floricultural improvement, so 
many of the most beautiful gems of Flora's kingdom permitted to share the fate of 
those whose blossoms are deficient in attractive features ; if they are not, like the 
latter, quite discarded, they are often left, without any solicitude for their welfare, 
to linger through a starving existence. We know not why it is that such noble 
flowers as those of the Neriums, interesting as much for their exquisite fragrance as 
for the plenitude and lovely hue of their blossoms, are so slightingly regarded. 
Under good management, indeed, these plants may vie with the Rose-— the Queen 
of flowers — in interesting qualities. 
Members of this genus have been found in various parts of the world. Loureiro 
speaks of the Oleander as growing in China, Cochin-China, and many other places 
in Asia. The " Hortus Malabaricus " mentions one, as the Tsjovanna-Areli, which 
is considered to be identical with the double-flowered splendens^ now common in 
collections. They have been discovered in the South of Europe, on the eastern 
shores of the Mediterranean, in the West Indian Islands, and on the coasts of 
Africa, thus adorning with their stately forms and specious blossoms some district 
in each of the four quarters of the globe. 
Whilst writing thus, we may observe, that a variety with Carnation-like 
flowers (in the way of Mr. Lane's Rayanot, see vol. xi. p. 53), is by no means a 
novelty in the family. We find mention made of a Nerium florihm ex albo et 
rosea variegatis^ in " Miller's Gardener's Dictionary," which was discovered by 
Dr. Tournefort, in the Levant, and was considered a scarce plant in Europe a 
century ago, when Miller wrote. As that plant is said to produce a white flower 
