168 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ November, 
pitting them in a contest of skill; to combina¬ 
tion appertains refinement, and the grace pecu¬ 
liar to high-breeding. Contrast, in short (to 
use a quaint similitude), has the virtues of de¬ 
mocracy, combination those which may be 
called aristocratic. 
“ It is bjr contrast that the margin of a large- 
blotched Pelargonium becomes so striking and 
effective, even when the beauty is enhanced, 
as it often is, by its being between colours that 
combine. There should, therefore, be no pen- 
cillings, nor any processes of the blotch breaking 
into it to mar its distinctness. It is by con¬ 
trast that the white eye of others adds so much 
to their beauty. Neither of these properties 
has any positive value ; it is relative, and 
depends on the contrast; and that in the throat 
is often formed entirely by the abruptness with 
which the colour terminates. Hence it is that 
a feather in the eye, however small, gives an 
appearance of poverty, because it detracts from 
the purity of the white, and by consequence 
from the contrast in which the effectiveness 
resides. Finally, it is to contrast, in a great 
measure, that the gorgeous splendour of the 
Tulip is owing ; for its bold and bright colours 
being laid on the purest white or yellow, the 
extreme purity of the ground brings out with 
perfect effect the strokes of the pencilling. 
“ When combination and contrast unite in 
the same flower, which is far from rare, the 
order of excellence is such as to admit of the 
highest effect colours are capable of giving. 
“ The boundaries of science being now esta¬ 
blished, the province of taste may be inferred, 
as including all not restricted by the former. 
When the rules of science have defined what is 
invariable and necessary, a large field will still 
remain open for individual taste to luxuriate in 
without reproach ; limited, indeed, on all sides 
from transgressing its proper bounds, but 
within its ample space unfettered. This is the 
region of taste, to which belongs whatever is 
not claimed by the more rigid exactness of 
scientific rule. It is the residuary legatee, 
when all specified claimants are satisfied. 
“ But beyond its legitimate sphere it can 
have no jurisdiction. Whatever Nature (which 
is the law of our Maker) requires, taste cannot 
dispense with as out of fashion ; whatever it 
rejects, taste cannot patronise into a beauty. 
It may prefer colour to colour at its pleasure, 
and dispute over the rival claims of its several 
favourites, which have naturally an equal claim 
to admiration, but it is out of place when it 
demands precedence for an angular over a 
flowing outline, or for a disproportionate or 
an unmeaning shape over one of which every 
part has reference to the whole ; nor ought it 
to be allowed to stamp a conventional value 
upon an incongruous assemblage of colours. 
“ A cultivated taste does not often err thus. 
And by a cultivated taste, I mean simply, one 
that is conversant with a flower in its varieties, 
and takes an interest in their observation. It 
is curious to observe the tact a person rapidly 
acquires in discerning anything that is really a 
natural defect, or the parent of a natural ad¬ 
vantage, merely by frequent, unconscious com¬ 
parison. And this is the origin of the agree¬ 
ment there is between florists in the ‘ points ’ of 
flowers. And the reason it is not more perfect 
is because the faculty is not equally cultivated 
in all, nor is it perfect in any. Mere observa¬ 
tion lias not the means of training the eye to 
completeness, for perfection has never hitherto 
been reached in the objects of its study. It is 
also partly owing to an erroneous as well as a 
defective standard. For in forming a standard 
of excellence of any particular florist’s flower, 
the legitimate preferences of varying taste have 
generally been allowed a voice, which is a 
mistake. 
“ Reasoning, however, will help to supply 
the deficiency. Discussions on the subject, 
such as are constantly appearing in the pages 
of periodicals like The Florist , will always tend 
to promote such agreement, because there is 
a solid foundation at bottom, and therefore a 
true appeal to nature. There are in nature 
certain fixed laws applicable (and in practice 
already to a great extent applied) to the esti¬ 
mate of any flower. And the readers of such 
discussions, whether they agree to or dissent 
from what they read, so they but exercise 
thought upon it, are gradually acquiring for 
themselves the faculty of correctly judging 
whether those laws are infringed or not. Nor 
can any one have perused these papers without 
making an advance in a knowledge, of which, 
perhaps, at first he was inclined to dispute the 
existence.— Iota.” 
MARKET PLANTS.—VIII. 
The Fuchsia. 
« HE Fuchsia divides with the Pelar¬ 
gonium the honour of being the plant 
most largely cultivated for market 
purposes. A firm like that of Messrs. J. and 
J. Hayes, of Edmonton, with their extensive 
market trade, find it necessary to grow from 
eight to ten thousand Fuchsias, and even more 
—a prodigious number certainly, and repre¬ 
senting, from the time the cuttings are put in 
for striking, till they are sent to market, much 
important and hard work. A large house of 
Fuchsias, and such an one, for instance, as can 
be seen at Edmonton, filled with plants that 
will be ready for market in two or three days, 
is a sight long to be remembered. Such a 
house will contain from 3,000 to 4,000 plants, 
in 48-pots, their proportions varying according 
to the habit of growth, the largest plants being 
