428 
GARDENERS, AND THE CULTURE OP FLORISTS FLOWERS. 
of its head ; these in turn also decay, but as 
they moulder away they languish into a new 
kind of fungous life, of an inferior type to 
the last, as if their own vitality were inferior 
in kind to that of the decayed poplar, whence 
they lately issued.* Thus, since the seeds of 
funguses actually exist in great quantity in 
other plants, and since they occur in the 
closed interior of fruits, and in corollas which 
are still in their envelopes, (in either case out 
of the reach of the external air.) since, 
finally, the Pietra fungliaia, which produces 
a Polyporus unknown to England, may be, 
notwithstanding, made to germinate in Eng- 
land, by furnishing the stone with adequate 
supplies of water and of heat, that seems the 
more tenable hypothesis of the two, which in 
every case supposes the nidus of the fungus 
to furnish the seed, and the atmosphere the 
conditions necessary for its quickening." — 
Pp. 46, 47. 
We have to express our satisfaction at the 
appearance of this work at the present junc- 
ture, and most readily bestow on it a deserved 
general commendation. We must not, how- 
ever, be blind to its demerits. First of all, 
we are totally unable to conceive how, in a 
work expressly devoted to an account of the 
esculent funguses of England, the truffle — 
that daintiest of fungoid dainties — comes to 
be altogether omitted ; yet such is the case ; 
it is neither represented, described, nor cata- 
logued. We must also venture to think, that 
the style of the work falls exactly into that 
medium position, which, in botanical matters 
at least, can never be a " happy" one. The 
text is, we fear, not botanical enough nor 
orderly enough to please a botanist, and to 
render the work acceptable to him ; and we 
imagine it is, to a great extent at least, much 
too botanical for the general reader. In these 
days, too, we should have preferred to have 
seen the plates arranged with more regard to 
botanical order. The author's estimate of 
their value, as esculents, which appears now 
to be the leading feature of arrangement, would 
have been much better indicated in a tabular 
form. However, these defects of the work 
are in a great measure counterbalanced by the 
beautiful manner in which it is printed on 
super-royal octavo ; and by the beauty and 
general accuracy of the illustrations. The 
* " Just as in the inorganic world chemical analysis 
is frequently the precursor of new forms of matter, 
resulting from the new affinities which take place ; so 
when a vegetable dies, and the synthesis of its struc- 
tural arrangement is broken up, Nature frequently 
avails herself of this season of decomposition, to bring 
new individuals out of the decaying structures of the 
old ; which, in consequence of a beautiful pre-arrange- 
ment, find there all the requisite supplies for their 
tb and future maintenance." 
latter consist of twenty-one plates ; sixteen 
of these are exquisitely coloured, and contain 
representations of thirty-seven species, and 
some varieties of fungi, wholesome and dele- 
terious, but chiefly the former ; and the 
remainder are occupied by the details of the 
structure of these curious and interesting 
plants. 
GARDENERS, AND THE CULTURE OF 
FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 
There is scarcely any branch of gardening 
so little attended to in large establishments as 
the cultivation of florists' flowers : and with- 
out any disrespect to the many skilful gardeners 
who must be included in our censure, there is 
scarcely any point in practice so little under- 
stood. Many a gardener who is equal to 
every department of forcing, and fruit and 
vegetable growing, is, nevertheless, very de- 
ficient in his knowledge of those subjects 
which have by dint of high culture been drawn 
out of their natural and simple- state into 
objects of great beauty and delicacy. Such 
flowers as the tulip, the hyacinth, the picotee, 
carnation, pink, pansy or heartsease, ranun- 
culus, dahlia, rose, fuchsia, geranium, and 
some others, have been so improved as to 
render their original species poor and worth- 
less by comparison. Some of these, which 
require only the same culture as the most 
common, may be grown and are grown, as a 
matter of course, in all establishments. The 
rose, dahlia, geranium, fuchsia, and hyacinth, 
are everybody's flowers, and the most beau- 
tiful are no more difficult to grow than the 
most common ; but tulips, auriculas, ranun- 
culuses, pinks, picotees, and carnations, 
require very peculiar treatment ; and as not 
one good gardener in ten knows how to cul- 
tivate them, they never try to obtain them. 
There may be some excuse for this ; they oc- 
cupy a great deal of time, and give a good 
deal of trouble, and they are not things to 
trust to other men. Still we recommend all 
gardeners to be acquainted with them, and to 
procure a few and manage them according to 
the published directions, that they may be 
prepared for growing them when any change 
renders it necessary. There is good reason to 
know that the absence of certain qualifications 
is often fatal when searching for a new place ; 
and though a man may fancy himself in a 
place for life, changes take place in families 
when it is least expected ; the death of an 
employer often changes the whole aspect of 
affairs, and a man is even at a late period of 
life thrown upon the world unprovided for, 
except so far as his economy and prudence 
may have laid up something for a rainy day. 
The growing taste for florists' flowers renders 
