4 
THE FLORIST. 
of seedlings, it is rather a matter of astonishment that more 
first-rate varieties have not been obtained. Indeed, this whole 
subject of Auricula seedlings has been in a most unsatisfactory 
state; the number of persons who have taken honours in them 
has been very small, and even they have been satisfied with a 
lower standard of excellence than they ought to have been, and 
consequently, for want of better, some have been admitted into 
the list of stage Auriculas which are doomed sooner or later 
to be expunged from it. I use the expression “have been,” 
because I see symptoms of a great revolution coming on, at 
present somewhat like the mysterious movements of Garibaldi 
at Genoa, when whispered intimations were all that could be 
obtained of that mighty band which has/ though small in 
numbers, swept away an ancient monarchy, and, as usual, the 
earliest note is from our canny and persevering friends north 
of the Tweed. Already we have received an instalment of 
what they mean to do ; Lightbody, Campbell, and others have 
added some most desirable varieties to our lists, while the 
former gentleman tells me that “some astonishing flowers 
in greens, whites, and seifs have been raised there lately—one 
green which beats all others.” This is not the opinion of a 
young and inexperienced cultivator, seeing in his own children 
nothing but perfection, but of a veteran in the service, who, 
comparing the progeny of his neighbours with perhaps the best 
collection in the kingdom, thus deliberately pronounces his 
dictum. And can any one tell me how it is that the Scotch 
florists, with climate against them, do thus succeed ? In 
Eanunculuses and Pansies they have long been ahead of us, 
and now they seem determined to get before us in Auriculas 
also, although some southern growers are earnestly trying what 
they can do (indeed, I know of one instance in which a variety 
has been lent, for the purpose of cross-breeding, a hundred 
miles ofi*), and there is some comfort in thinking that, canny 
though the northerns be, it will be some time before they can 
beat Chapman’s Maria. Well, there is room enough for all, 
and it would be a shame if, with all our advantages, we allow 
ourselves to be beaten. 
With regard to the illustration, Eichmond’s North Star, I 
know nothing of the flower, save from hearsay and the plate, 
and I know some say you cannot trust plates, and instance the 
figures given in the Florist of Oxonian and Maria. In 
looking at the former again, I do not hesitate to say it is a 
correct representation of the flower; it exhibits just that defect 
which is fatal to it—the muddiness of the paste; and when to 
that is added the statement that it was raised from Fair Eosa- 
mond, I wonder that any one should have expected a first-rate 
variety from it. Then as to Maria, I am somewhat to blame 
