154 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
Roseum Compactum (Salter).—Moderately vigorous habit ; flowers in 
compact trusses, small, rose throughout. 
Rose Queen * (Kinghorn).—Moderately vigorous habit; flowers rose pink, 
with the base of the upper petals paler, freely produced, and of good form. 
( To be continued.') 
REVIEW. 
Hardy Ferns; Howl Collected and Cultivated Them. By Nona Bellaies. 
London : Smith, Elder, k Co. 
This is one of the most charming books on plant-collecting we have ever 
read. Reader ! are you a plant-collector, or a lover of nature ? If so, procure 
this little volume and take a lesson from it. Here is an example of what you 
will find :— 
“ ‘There’snot a nook "within this solemn pass, 
But were an apt confessional for one 
Taught by his summer spent, his autumn gone, 
That life is but a tale of morning grass, 
Withered at eve. From >cene3 of art which chase 
That thought away; turn, and with watchful eyes 
Feed it mid Nature’s old felicities— 
Rocks, rivers, and smooth lakes more clear than glass 
Untouched, unbreathed upon.’— Wordsworth. 
“Through the Trossacks—nob walking or driving leisurely, stopping here and 
there to admire, now dragging this wheel, now getting down for a lounge up that 
hill; but dashing, scrambling, tearing along on the outside of a rickety old coach, 
driven unicorn fashion, with a wild-looking £ leader,’ having a mad gleam in her 
eye, called £ Black Bess ’ by the coachman, who instead of minding his horses, 
kept quoting Sir Walter Scott, to the intense horror of one of our party, a 
superb four-in-hand ‘ whip.’ 
“ Oh ! the perils of that drive—the ludicrous mixture of the sublime and the 
ridiculous. Black Bess scorned a whip, and the coachman employed his to 
illustrate his quotations. ‘ There, madam, is the rock where Fitz James withstood 
Roderick Dhu. 
“ ‘ His back against a rock he bore, 
And firmly placed his foot before.’ 
Hold in, Bess, will you; what’s up now ?’ ‘ My good friend,’ broke in the whip, 
£ do let me have the reins. Do pray be careful.’ £ Bless you, sir, don’t be fright¬ 
ened, Bess is as gentle as a lamb when you let her have her own way. Hold hard, 
old girl. Now for it!’ and like a mad thing, Bess was tearing down a grip, and 
pulling might and main up a steep ascent. 
“ A few more alarming quotations and we came to Loch Katrine, lying grace¬ 
ful and beaming, with its little sunny isles beneath the shadow of its mountains 
and its trees. 
££ A small steamer plies up and down this lovely lake, and you find yourself 
looking out for land-marks given you by Scott. The £ beach of pebble bright as 
snow,’ the £ silver strand,’ are there, it only needs ‘fair Ellen’s’ voice to take the 
place of the rough music of the paddles. 
“Loch Katrine is a graceful preparation for the grander beauty of Loch 
Lomond. I can hardly fancy a lovelier picture than that which bursts upon you 
as you near the inn of Inversnaid, Ben after Ben rising in the distance, some 
brown, some blue, and some with bright patches of green here and there. 
“I did not forget the Ferns. I spent hours hunting the hill-side at Inversnaid. 
Oreopteris grew in abundance, with. beautiful Filix-foemina and other common 
Ferns. I had made friends on the lake with a gentleman, armed as I w r as with 
trowel and bag. He joined us in the walk. 
“ What success ?’ I asked, half hoping he had found some rarity, half fearing 
lest his booty should exceed my own. He shook his head. I opened my store 
triumphantly. £ Look here,’ I said, £ is not this a wonderful find ?’ and I displayed 
a graceful little Fern. £ This is the Woodsia ilvensis !’ 
“I saw a twinkle in the ‘Fern-man’s’ eye; but he told me gravely my 
