MARCH. 
43 
developed, a few more days must elapse before they are in the “ height of per¬ 
fection. ” An old single white variety named Themistocles led the way. It 
was once a link in the chain of the large-belled kinds that has resulted in the 
magnificence of Madame Van der Hoop and Snowball; and having fulfilled its 
mission, it has been set aside for other and better flowers. Next was Annie 
Lisle, single red, deep rose, with darker stripe along each segment of the bells, 
and in its present stage of growth suffused with claret. I do not remember to 
have seen this flower before, and I am vastly pleased with it. It has two fine 
spikes of flowers, the foliage is dwarf, and it is an early and very pretty variety. 
It is one of a few bulbs sent me by Mr. J. H. Veen, of Haarlem, for trial. 
Next came Lord 'Wellington, double red, one I always grow in a glass, and I 
dismiss it by simply saying that "while it is one of the best double Hyacinths in 
cultivation, it is also one of the easiest to grow in glasses that I know of. 
Another is Jeanne d’Arc, single white, a large-belled pale blush variety, also 
from Mr. Veen. It is not sufficiently advanced to judge accurately of its 
merits. The same can be said of Torquato Tasso, also single white, another 
flower included in Mr. Veen’s kind present. A dozen others are in a succes-' 
sive stage of growth, strong, vigorous, and promising. 
Two pots of Homan Hyacinths, potted about the first week in December, 
and kept in a very cold room till the flower-spikes had put in an appearance, 
are very gay and enlivening, and have been so for three weeks past. Under 
more favourable conditions they could be had in flower in a much shorter time. 
Each bulb has two, and some three spikes of flowers, and they emit a delightful 
fragrance. They deserve a more general culture than they receive, and I 
fancy that a large demand is anticipated for them in the coming autumn, as a 
Liverpool firm is already advertising for a large quantity of them. They 
appear to me to be a kind of connecting link between the Squill and the 
Hyacinth. 
Out of doors I have a bed of something like thirty supposed different varie¬ 
ties of Crocus for trial; and in two other beds collections of single and double 
Tulips (early-flowering); the various sections of Narcissi, &c. I see indica¬ 
tions of many of these being on the move in places where the noon-day sun has 
dissolved the snow that had settled on a warm border. The great transition 
process has commenced; what was just now vegetable life in suspension, is 
coming forth like Lazarus from the sepulchre :— 
“Upward glancing to the sky”— 
and from the returning season, the lengthening day, and the increased warmth 
of the sun’s rays, seems to issue once again, the summons, “ The Master is 
come, and calleth for thee.” Quo. 
THE RENOVATION OF FRUIT TREE BORDERS. 
As a means of preserving fruit trees in health and productiveness, this 
branch of the art of gardening is not without its share of importance, and 
ought to be generally followed out in a systematic manner. That it is not so 
I feel convinced, and shall endeavour in a concise manner to show why I con¬ 
sider that the practice is both to be commended and recommended. We need 
not enter deeply into the theoretical and scientific part of the question to arrive 
at the knowledge that where there is only a limited supply of food, and many 
mouths to feed, the supply is likely to become soon exhausted, unless re¬ 
plenished, and our practice ought to teach us that where fruit trees are confined 
to a limited space, and subjected to a system of artificial treatment entirely oppo¬ 
site to the conditions in which they are found to flourish in a natural state of 
