1878. ] 
REMINISCENCES OF POLYANTHUSES. 
55 
No such system was then thought of or sup¬ 
posed to exist, but each endeavoured to im¬ 
prove his chosen flower in his own way. But 
now, after their labours have in a course of years 
slowly collected various and tangible results, we 
can see that those results have been reached by 
successive steps, all in the same direction. The 
Tulip—which has perhaps been cultivated 
longest as a fancy flower, and which, as the 
gaudiest of them, is peculiaidy likely to dazzle 
even the experienced into mistakes of its true 
properties—has undergone several apparent 
revolutions of opinion about its standard points. 
We have now, however, no difficulty in follow¬ 
ing the successive advances it has made, and 
discovering that there was no capriciousness, 
nor any other general alteration of taste than 
what arose from a general onward progress. 
“ It may be true that some old varieties 
exist in most fancy flowers which have seldom 
been surpassed since ; but at the time of their 
first appearance they were not, as they are ex¬ 
pected to be now, the types of the whole bed. 
And when it is thence inferred that many have 
been discarded to make room for others no 
better, or perhaps worse, than themselves, it is 
not indeed denied that such mistakes may have 
happened, but from some researches made on 
the subject, I am inclined to believe they have 
been comparatively rare. And there is one 
reason for novelty not generally known except 
to experienced florists (though popularly 
acknowledged in fruits), that highly-cultivated 
varieties soon wear themselves out and de¬ 
generate. Pinks rarely retain their character 
through more than from ten to fifteen genera¬ 
tions of cuttings ; and therefore new ones must 
be continually superseding the old, even though 
little, if anything, superior to those they 
displace. 
“ And as for a person unaccustomed to any 
species of flow T er making a wrong selection for 
his approval, it happens in everything else as 
well as in flowers, and therefore loses its force. 
Lace, for instance, is made for the same pur¬ 
pose that the flower was created,—to please 
the eye; and an unpractised eye would be as 
apt to pass by the rare and costly, and to 
select the valueless in lace, as in a Pelargo¬ 
nium. The fact is ever found to be that the 
most showy qualities are not the most useful, 
nor is that which will most permanently please 
that which first catches the unaccustomed eye. 
But that which is sterling, which will attract 
without fatiguing the sight, and gratify with¬ 
out offending the judgment, will often be 
passed over at first without notice. And there¬ 
fore it is no more a reproach to the study which 
investigates these facts, or to the art which is 
founded upon them, that the eye of a novice 
should make a choice which the same eye, 
when tutored by experience, would reject, than 
it is an argument against a more cultivated 
taste in diet, that a child prefers green fruit to 
ripe, and leaves wholesome food for ginger¬ 
bread.— Iota.” 
REMINISCENCES OF POLYANTHUSES. 
OW for a few lines on one of my earlier 
fancy flowers, the Polyanthus, which, I 
am sorry to say, has for years been 
much neglected until just lately, when some¬ 
what of a revival of the fancy has sprung up, 
and this lovely flower seems likely to be brought 
to the fore again. It is a slight drawback 
that at the present time we have scarcely 
one of the older school of florists left amongst 
us, either to grow them, or to give their ex¬ 
perience for the benefit of those who are to 
follow in their wake. However, I do not see 
why new growers should be thereby dis- 
ouraged. Earnest men who have the fancy at 
heart will not falter at the sight of slight 
difficulties. 
Some years since I grew a tidy collection of 
Polyanthuses, but latterly I have been out 
of them altogether, yet for all that, I think it 
is possible I may be of some service, by giving 
a little advice to the young and inexperienced. 
Those who have lately begun to cultivate 
the Auricula must not be led away by the 
notion that the Auricula and the Polyanthus 
are of one and the same species, requiring 
similar treatment. They are certainly of two 
different natures, and require different kinds of 
soil and a different situation, in fact, altogether 
different treatment. The Auricula thrives best 
in a high, mountainous place, where pure air 
blows freely from all quarters, and at those 
times when it blows from the most favourable 
quarters—west, south-west, and north-west— 
they can scarcely have too much of it during 
three parts of the year. Not so with the 
Polyanthus. That grows, thrives, and blooms 
best in a low, somewhat shady, and not over- 
dry situation, where the ground is not pestered 
with red-spider, which is the worst and most 
destructive enemy the Polyanthus has, and 
which must be guarded against; for of a cer¬ 
tainty where red-spider abounds, the Polyanthus 
cannot exist for any length of time. As to 
any remedy for destroying such pests, I have 
