8 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ JANUARY, 
scarcely tell for two days together what that 
weather is going to be—in summer, whether 
it is going to be wet or dry, or frosty; or in 
winter, whether it is going to be white or 
black, or hard, or windy. In spring-time, how¬ 
ever, it seldom fails to bring with it as much 
frost as to almost totally annihilate our fruit 
prospects. I have read somewhere that when 
Cousin Jonathan is angry with us, he banter- 
ingly threatens to cut off, and so deprive us of 
the benefits of the Gulf stream. By all means 
let him do so, and by his sweeping away the 
narrow countries of Central America, the stream 
will pass through and join other currents, to 
warm up the Pacific shores of the North 
American Continent. They stand in more need 
of it than we do, at any rate they possess more 
coast line, and according to the laws of 
nature, much always wants more : so let it go. 
If the presence on our shores of this stream so 
frequently deprives us of our apples and our 
pears, our plums, our cherries, and our goose¬ 
berries, like a bad shilling, we are better with¬ 
out it. The climate of the British Isles, by 
the presence of this stream, is not a natural 
one ; it gives us an isothermal line of climate 
equal to about 1,200 miles further south on 
the continent of North America, without giving 
to us their corresponding advantages, for we 
neither enjoy the grandeur of their winters, 
nor the grandeur of their summers, or of their 
falls. In winter we could but do as they do in 
other similar parallels of latitude, where they 
have no Gulf-stream, wrap ourselves up in our 
furs, occasionally rub our noses, and go sleigh¬ 
ing up and down on the snow and on the ice, 
until the arrival of spring, when our presence 
would be required amongst our fruit-trees and 
in our fields. 
Besides the loss of our fruits from these 
causes, the same influences too often cause the 
loss of our grain. Both have to be supplied 
from other countries, countries which in earlier 
years, to our shame be it said, were to a great 
extent peopled by our exiles, our unpro¬ 
vided - fors, our cast - aways, and our 
slaves, who, like Joseph in Egypt, found 
more hospitable climes, and who like him, 
lived for a time in hardships, tempta¬ 
tions, industry, and plenty, until the oppor¬ 
tunity arrived for them to requite our cruelty 
by deeds of kindness. History, it is said, 
often l'epeats itself, and of this, where could 
we find a more striking or more convincing 
instance than, I may say, in the many circum¬ 
stances of the present day. For instead of 
having to pay, as our ancestors had to do in 
former days, famine-prices for indifferent food, 
we pay for it just as much as the quality of the 
article is worth; and like Joseph’s brethren, 
thanks to those banished exiles, buy to our 
certain satisfaction out of the great orchards 
and granaries of the world.— William Miller, 
Combe Abbey Gardens. 
GOLD-LACED POLYANTHUSES. 
GpPT is very satisfactory to note an awakening 
°j (o interest in the old-fashioned Gold-laced 
Polyanthuses. They have passed through a 
time of neglect, but the lamp of their life has not 
been wholly extinguished ; and if it has not been 
held aloft, it has yet been kept burning, since 
a few florists hei'e and there have held some of 
the fine old named varieties safe to this day. 
They are very scarce, but it is something to 
know that they are in existence. Twenty years 
ago the best-named Gold-laced Polyanthuses in 
cultivation were :— 
Pearson’s Alexandra. 
Maund’s Beauty of Eng¬ 
land. [vourite. 
Sanders’ Cheshire Fa- 
Hufton’s Earl of Lincoln. 
Collier’s Princess Itoyal. 
Clegg’s Ld. John Russell. 
Cronshaw’s Exile. 
Buck’s George IV. 
Addis’s Kingfisher. 
Nicholson’s King. 
Craiggie’s Highland 
Mary. 
Thompson’s Duke of 
Nor thum berl and. 
Gibbon’sRoyal Sovereign 
Brown’s Richard Cobden. 
Bullock’s Lancer. 
Hufton’s Traveller. 
Willison’s Lady Milner. 
What a possession it would be now to have 
a plant each of the foregoing varieties ! I have 
been making inquiries on every hand to get 
hold of any of them, and I have been success¬ 
ful in obtaining Beauty of England, Cheshire 
Favourite, Earl of Lincoln, Exile, George IV., 
Lancer, and in addition, Cox’s Regent, Tele¬ 
graph, William IV., Formosa, Rev. F. D. 
Horner (raised, I believe, by David Jackson, of 
Middleton, a flower of good properties), and 
Hilton’s President. I am afraid some of the 
varieties enumerated above have become wholly 
lost, or if they exist, it seems difficult to get a 
clue to their whereabouts. If one would look 
for the old named Gold-laced Polyanthuses 
anywhere, it would be in the neighbourhood 
of Manchester; but at the exhibition of the 
National Auricula Society, at which prizes are 
