THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[September 11. 
364 
are interested, it is a volume that must be equally wel¬ 
come to all classes, and from which all may derive im- 
) provement. 
Before concluding, we must notice that the same 
i authoress has just published another small volume, en- 
| titled Safety in Peril; a work, as one of its critics justly 
! says, in which “The faith once” for all “ delivered to 
: the saints, is truthfully, clearly, and elegantly set forth.” 
GARDENING GOSSIP. 
The progress of Floriculture is slow, and we wish we 
could add sure. It is not that we run short of novelties, 
but that there are too many of them, and so very few in 
advance. It is not enough that some new shade in the 
colour, or some unimportant correction in the shape, is 
apparent in a seedling to give it a place among expen¬ 
sive new things; it ought to be distinct from all we have 
in colour, or better than all we have in shape. We 
wish especially to know which of the present year’s 
Dahlias are advances, upop what we had already, in 
form? Or whether we have not,in every colour, a better 
flower among our old varieties? What in orange-buff 
has beaten Toisson d'Or and Duke of Wellington ?■ What 
in blacks has passed Stopford and Triumph? What 
in lilacs or lilac-rose has beaten Fearless? What in 
scarlets is to beat Gem, or in yellows to beat Standard? 
Where are the light flowers to beat Marchioness Corn¬ 
wallis, Queen of the East, and Princess Radzville ? These 
were questions put at a public meeting; and the sum 
mary of the observations, for there were no answers, 
amounted to this, that there had been nothing to beat 
the flowers mentioned in their particular way. The 
King of the Dahlias, though attempted to be burked by 
the trade, was a beat on all the crimsons; that Barmaid 
was a new variety, and a distinct one, and, though not 
a beat, a decided acquisition; that Admiral, though not 
a beat on Fearless, was a beat on the Duke of Cambridge 
j and Queen of Lilacs, and was an acquisition because it 
would be shown with Fearless. Then there was the 
white flower, Gem of the West, or Queen of the West, had 
come a very decided acquisition. But it was alleged, 
that although many of the new flowers had come badly, 
nobody could fairly judge Dahlias in August; but it 
was generally admitted that a great majority of the new 
j flowers were worse than old ones of the same class. 
In Phloxes there was little room for improvement in 
j form, so that the only chance there for new ones 
I was in colour; Pansies, it was admitted, had done but 
little ; Hollyhocks had, however, progressed in the great 
i essentia], the thickness of petal, and the Duke of 
| Wellington was a grand acquisition, not only beating 
everything of its colour, but in substance beating all 
others, so that everybody who proposed raising seedlings 
ought to look to that, though the dealers affected to find 
j many faults. The Petunia seemed to be at a stand-still, 
I none had substance and stiffness of petal which alone 
j could give real value to a new one. Hoses were allowed 
to have improved; but that there were still very few 
[ well-formed with stout, Rating petdls. Camellias have 
been moving the right way, but there are too many new 
ones without half the merit of the old ones; and when 
they looked to the great number of new things com¬ 
mended by the National Society, there was more difficulty 
in choosing from the mass than there was before, so many 
were prominently thrust forward, more especially as there 
were some really better things passed without notice. 
Geraniums, notwithstanding so much had been written 
against further improvement, had advanced very con¬ 
siderably, although we should not dei’ive the benefit of 
all that had been doue until after next year. There was 
a general opinion expressed in behalf of a system which 
has often been recommended, namely, that if those who 
intend to raise seedlings would select half-a-dozen of 
the best of any flower, no matter which, and seed them 
by themselves, the produce would be far better than 
twenty times as many savod from plants in collection; 
and that as many persons are acting on that system, 
floriculture would very soon feel the benefit of it in 
great improvements of the races. 
The subject of The Mealy Bug on plants was the 
means of engrossing an hour’s discussion at a recent 
meeting of gardeners; and ugly as this customer is in a 
plant-house, the gardener naturally tries every remedy 
than can be suggested; but cleanliness is the only cure. 
A lazy gardener, who scarcely knows his business, -will 
make it au excuse for neglecting everything. All the 
remedies mentioned were only different modes of securing 
cleanliness. All stoves are subject to it; a lazy fellow 
will let them get a-head, and then it takes half his time 
to clean his plants again. 
It was generally, or rather unanimously, conceded, first, 
that the gardener who would not go into the foulest house in 
the kingdom, and in which the whole collection was infested, 
and clean both houses and plants, was unfit for any good 
place ; secondly, that the best means of cleaning the plants, 
is with a good shaving brush and hot soap-suds ; thirdly, 
that when plants are very bad they should be sharply 
pruned, so as to take away all that was too much damaged 
before the washing commenced, as it materially lessens the 
labour; syringing with warm water after washing, and then 
subjecting the plants carefully to heat and moisture, con¬ 
stantly watching for the enemy, and repeating the operation. 
It was, also, agreed that the house should undergo a com¬ 
plete cleansing with soap and water, and brushing, and hard 
syringing. Nothing is more common to get the bug with a 
plant, and a lazy fellow will let it go all over the house and j 
infest every plant in it before he even looks for it, and then, ' 
instead of getting rid of it, will attribute all his misfortune ; 
to the offending plant. 
There is in the last month’s number of a contemporary 
a very instructive lesson, and a very candid acknow¬ 
ledgment with regard to a recent warm discussion on 
The Great Northern Tulip Show. It is acknowledged 
that time was, when the northerns did patronise foul 
tulips for the sake of the marking, and, which is still 
more important, it is also allowed to be wrong, although 
still adhered to in some places. Now this clears away a 
good deal of that misunderstanding which led to some¬ 
thing very like personalities on the part of our contem¬ 
porary, certainly not returned by us, nor, as we think, 
called for by our warmly expressed opinion against one 
of the judges supposed to represent the south, and whom 
we blamed for giving a prize to foul flowers. There was 
I 
