NEW AND RARE PLANTS. 
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regular plodding system of study, not one taken up on the spur of the moment, produced by some ex¬ 
traneous influence, hut a continuous system of keeping the mind employed upon subjects connected with 
your profession—a profession that particularly comprehends the great and unerring laws of Nature. 
Books are useful; hut a gardener, above all others, can at all times study the hook of nature, which 
is always open, and always ready to reward him who reads her language aright, with a. never-ceasing 
supply of interesting and useful instruction. To obtain some degree of professional skill he must he a 
persevering, an acute, and an accurate observer of nature, and to he regular and methodical in all his 
observations. I must admit that it is rather difficult to be regular and methodical at all times ; but 
we ought to try to be so. Circumstances may sometimes prevent us, but the fault generally lies in 
our own idle dispositions; irregularity is more commonly wilful than contingent on things exterior ; 
it is a most injurious defect in the human character. Those who are cursed with it, and many who are 
not, fancy that it is the sure concomitant of great ability, the mark even of that nondescript called a 
“ genius.” The humble classes in particular suppose that every clever workman must 
“ Move eccentric like a comet’s blaze.” 
Dreadful opinion, followed by fatal effects. You have read in “ iEsop’s Fables” of the hare and the 
tortoise—the irregular hare with all his swiftness, his genius as it were, was beaten by the slow 
tortoise, or, so to speak, the regular man. We see every day the human hare outstripped by the human 
tortoise. We see irregular swiftness of intellect, and expertness of hand beaten hollow by the moderate 
but regular and steady mind, and by the slow but persevering hand. In short, we see irregularity and 
unsteadiness prostrate, regularity and persevering industry triumphant. The one pitied, neglected, 
and despised; the other valued, cherished, and at a premium. The former, who could have attained fame, 
wealth, pre-eminence, and had probably in some daring dash of energy nearly attained them, we see 
plunged in the slough of despair and disgrace, because the proper energy was not sustained, and 
vaccillation crept in ; the latter we see crawling on, and arriving by regular progression at the summit 
the far cleverer competitor had lost by foolish deviations, and stoppages by the way. The most brilliant 
abilities, the most splendid acquirements arc next to valueless when firmness of purpose is wanting; 
whilst, on the other hand, moderate talents, lowly acquirements, acting upon the principle that “ where 
there’s a will there’s a way,” obtain the highest price in the market of utility and prosperity. Be 
then regularly plodding, and you will have no cause to envy the ephemeral success of wayward ability. 
I have said that gardeners especially should study the book of nature. There, especially, is mani¬ 
fested the beneficence of the supreme Creator, who has given for our admiration a succession of flowers 
of various sorts and colours throughout the whole year. That nature is never chary of her gifts, is 
made manifest in the many vegetable productions that she so liberally bestows upon us at all seasons. 
From their appearance at particular periods, and these with the regularity of the returning seasons, 
we do not appreciate their beauties so much as we ought. To suppose that the vegetative principle 
had ceased to act for one year would, by the absence of our old favourites, give us some idea of the 
delights and pleasures of which we were deprived; the returning spring would bring forth no flowers 
on which to feast our eyes, summer no fruits to gratify our tastes, autumn no various grains so necessary 
for human existence—all would be winter, dreary, and unproductive, a cessation of nature that would 
prove most disastrous in its consequences. 
You can easily picture to yourself the awful consequences that would result from the cessation of 
vegetation for even one short year; but in wisdom it is ordained by the Great Father of all that no 
such calamity should happen; the returning seasons are to continue to bring forth the leaves, the 
flowers, the fruits, &c., natural to each of all the various productions with which the surface of the 
earth is bedecked: there is an endless variety of different sorts, a variety of foliage, and a variety of 
colours. The more minutely such observations are made, the more plainly are seen the various tints 
shades, colours, and forms with which the Great Author of Nature has produced his works for our 
admiration, gratitude, and advantage. From such investigations your own reflection should lead you 
to trace “ the works of nature up to nature’s God.” 
%m nub Enrt plants. 
Lisianthus r in nceps, Lindley. Prince of Lisianths (Flore des Sevres , t. 557).—Nat. Ord., Gentianaceae § Gen- 
tianeae.—A greenhouse shrub of great beauty. It grows naturally compact, two to three feet high, with 
dichotomous sub-four-angled branches, and is smooth in every part. The leaves are opposite, lanceolate-oblong, 
acuminate, with two pair of lateral nerves, and a very short footstalk. The flowers grow at the tips of the 
branches in small sub-umbellate clusters [singly from the axils of the leaves, Lindley~\; they are nodding, with a 
