66 
THE FLORIST. 
if you take care to state what affinity (if any) the seedlings under 
notice may have to others in previous cultivation ; for a too close 
proximity has caused more disappointment to purchasers than any 
actual inferiority either in quality, shape, or brilliancy of colour. I 
do not apply these remarks to any particular flower, but to Fuchsias, 
Pelargoniums, Pansies, Picotees, Carnations, in fact, every thing that 
takes a place from owing “ any of its beauties to the skill and culti¬ 
vation of the seedling raiser.” By fearlessly condemning all seed¬ 
lings not manifestly distinct, and in all other respects of a superior 
character, great public good must result; for it were better that 
only half a dozen fine things were sent out to the public during one 
season, by the collective aid of all the seedling raisers in the three 
kingdoms, than that half a hundred, with no other novelty attached 
to them save what an imposing name is capable of conferring, should 
be thrust on the market. 
If not occupying too much space, I would add a few remarks in 
support of an observation made in the first Number by your Hol¬ 
loway correspondent, Mr. Edwards. As a zealous hybridiser for 
the last ten or twelve years, I can support his observation, that 
“ nurserymen had much better turn their attention to any other 
part of their duties than that of raising seedlings,” being well assured 
that, in addition to the disadvantages enumerated by him, they can¬ 
not devote sufficient time and attention to the subject in all its bear¬ 
ings ; and upon this, of course, depends the value of what they may 
raise. It is a task of incessant study and thoughtful occupation duly 
to consider what has been the result of a previous year's labours, and 
from those results to draw conclusions upon which to act for the 
future. Another great disadvantage the nurseryman labours under, 
when cultivation under glass is concerned, is the room and time 
required. Putting out of the question the details of pricking out, 
potting off, shifting, &c., three, four, and five years are required to 
w r ait for the result of seedling Ericas, Epacrisses, or Camellias, and 
a twelvemonth at least to see the bloom of a Pelargonium; and all 
must be grown another season to prove their merits. Under these 
circumstances, I would ask if a house, say 40 feet long, and 16 feet 
wide, may not be more advantageously employed in growing stock 
from seedlings of tried and acknowledged merit, rather than in filling 
it with 800 or 1000 seedlings, the produce from which may not be 
six flowers worth keeping, even when judged upon the wrong prin¬ 
ciples hitherto practised. I will venture to add my opinion, that if 
nurserymen more generally left the raising of seedlings to amateurs, 
they would efficiently help to protect the public, as they would 
naturally be careful not to admit a plant into their stock that did 
not possess the requisite claims to public favour; and we should 
see less of that practice of sending out as novelties, plants that have 
no other claim than what a captivating name gives them, ensuring 
the greater disappointment. It must not be supposed that I consider 
nurserymen the only parties blameable for sending out seedlings of 
a worthless character; on the contrary, I think a system prevails that 
cannot be too much deprecated. Some amateur raisers of seedlings 
