August 29, 1896. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
827 
We Strongly recommend our Friends to avail themselves of 
OUR PRESENT PRICES, 
The Lowest that have been known for many years. 
WOOD’S HORTICULTURAL 
Coa.1* 
SPECIALLY MACHINED FOR GARDEN USE. 
SPECIAL CARRIAGE PAID PRICES ON APPLICATION. 
WOOD & SO 1ST, Ltd., Wood Green, London. 
TELEGRAMS.-" WOOD, WOOD GREEN." 
Cutbush’s Carnations. 
Awarded Gold Medals at Antwerp, York, and Cardiff 
1895 ; the Silver Cup at the Temple Show, and Gold 
Medal at York 1896; as well as many Silver 
Medals in various parts of the country. 
Special Catalogue now ready, including a very 
large number of Sterling Novelties, which may be 
had free upon application. 
The Stock, probably the largest, is in the finest 
condition, being perfectly free from disease. 
SOUVENIR DE LA MALMAISON, BORDER, & TREE 
VARIETIES are made a very great speciality. 
WM. CUTBUSH & SON, 
Highgate Nurseries, LONDON, N., and Barnet 
Nurseries, HERTS. 
GRAPE VINES and ROSES. 
JOHN COWAN & CO. have this season a 
large and splendid Stock of Grape Vines suitable 
for fruiting in pots and planting vineries. 
Also a large and splendid Stock of Tea and other 
Roses in pots. 
Descriptive and priced catalogue post free on 
application to the Company. 
THE VINEYARD & NURSERIES, 
Garston, near Liverpool. 
NEXT WEEK, 
SEPTEMBER 5th. 
SPECIAL * * * 
* * * NUMBER 
OF 
The Gardening World 
— TO COMMENCE — 
13th annual volume. 
Illustrations and 
Articles 
— ON — 
DUTCH 
- AND OTHER - 
BULBS. 
O RCHIDS of the highest quality, every 
plant guaranteed true to name, from 2/6 each, Please 
send for free list.—P. McARTHUR, The London Nurseries, 
4, Maida Vale, London, W. 
For Index to Contents see page 835. 
" Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man."— Bacon, 
Edited by J. FRASER F.L.S. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 2 gth, 1896. 
NEXT WEEK’S ENGAGEMENTS. 
Monday, August 31st.—Sales of Dutch Bulbs by Messrs. 
Protheroe & Morris. 
Tuesday, September 1st.—N.C.S. ' Show at the Royal 
Aquarium. 
Sales of Dutch Bulbs by Messrs Protheroe & Morris. 
Wednesday, September srd.—Glasgow Show. Milton and 
Sittingbourne Show (2 days) 
Sales of Dutch Bulbs by Messrs Protheroe & Morris. 
Thursday, September 3rd.—Stirling Horticultural Show 
(2 days). Dundee Show (3 days) 
Sales of Dutch Bulbs by Messrs. Protheroe & Morris. 
Friday, September ith.— Milngavie Show. 
Sales of Dutch Bulbs, and Orchids, by Messrs. Protheroe 
& Morris. 
pN Burns’ Flower Garden,— When 
William Burness, the father of Robert 
Burns, the poet, left his early home in 
Kincardineshire, he first sought employ¬ 
ment as a gardener, at Edinburgh. He 
afterwards removed to Ayrshire, where he 
served first under one employer, and then 
another for a few years. Then he took 
seven acres of land on perpetual lease with 
the object of becoming a nurseryman ; but 
before he had gone far with the laying out 
of his nursery he became engaged as 
gardener and overseer to Mr. Ferguson, 
who had just purchased the neighbouring 
estate of Doonholm ; and he was serving 
in this capacity when his son Robert Burns 
was born. Taking these circumstances 
into consideration, we are not surprised 
that Burns should have evinced a liking for 
flowers and woven them into his songs and 
poems. In his later years he even had a 
word to say about the gardener in a song 
he contributed to “Johnson’s Museum,” com¬ 
mencing thus : — 
“ When rosy May comes in wi’ flowers 
To deck her gay, green spreading bowers, 
Then busy, busy are his hours — 
The gard'ner with his paidle.” 
The wild flowers, however, were his 
greatest favourites, as any one may see by 
reading the various songs, lyrics, and poems 
in which he makes happy allusion to the 
flowers, bushes, and trees coming under 
his observation. The Rose to which he 
often alludes may either have been wild or 
cultivated in gardens, according to circum¬ 
stances. The behaviour of the maiden, 
when her soldier lad returned, is described 
thus:— 
“ She gazed — she redden’d like a Rose— 
Syne pale like onie Lily.” 
“ The red, red Rose,” like the last, is a 
'quotation which leads us to suspect that 
the garden Rose is meant, for none of our 
wild Roses are particularly red. The Lily 
is also a garden flower. Then, again, in 
“ The Cottar’s Saturday Night,” we have 
reference to a cultivated flower, when the 
wife, in speaking of a cheese, tells “ How 
’twas a towmond auld, sin’ lint was i’ the 
bell. The lint was Linum usitatissimum, 
or cultivated Flax. The Lily is also men¬ 
tioned in the same and in numerous songs. 
In one song-, the Pink, the Hyacinth, the 
Idly, and the Violet are drawn upon for in¬ 
spiration, and all of them are garden 
flowers, the Sweet Violet, at least, not 
being a native of Scotland. 
On the other hand, he expressly describes 
his flowers as wild, as such were doubtless 
most in accordance with his feelings. “ To 
Mary in Heaven,” and “ The Banks o’ 
Doon,” are two of his finest pieces, which 
have drawn tears from the eyes of many an 
audience, when they have been sung with 
sympathy and feeling. In the former we 
come in direct contact with Nature and the 
River Ayr, 
” O’erhuDg with wild woods, thick’niug green. 
The fragrant Birch and Hawthorn hoar, 
Twin’d am’rous round the raptured scene.” 
The same is equally true of the Doon, of 
which he sings, 
" Oft hae I roved by bonnie Doon 
To see the Rose and Woodbine twine.” 
In both the cases the flowers and trees 
are closely linked with the hopes, fears and 
sorrows of humanity, which he keeps close 
to view in a large number of his best pieces, 
so that we cannot feel surprised that he 
captivated, and held the ear of his large, 
and' ever-increasing audience. Who has 
not admired the oft-quoted address to the 
Daisy ? 
“ Wee, modest, crimson-tipped flow’r, 
Thou’s met me in an evil hour; 
For I maun crush amang the stoure 
Thy slender stem ; 
To spare thee now is past my pow’r, 
Thou bonnie gem ! ” 
This was his ode to a Daisy which he 
had come upon when ploughing a field ; and 
though the crushing of the Daisy was his 
own work, yet he seems to see in it the hand 
of fate ; for in the concluding verse he 
assumes the character of a prophet in fore¬ 
casting his own doom. 
" Ev’n thou who mourn’st the Daisy's fate, 
That fate is thine —no distant date ; 
Stern ruin’s ploughshare drives elate, 
Full on thy bloom, 
Till crushed beneath the furrow's weight, 
Shall be thy doom.” 
His ode “ To a Mouse ” was cast in pre¬ 
cisely the same vein as the address just 
quoted, showing with what intense sym¬ 
pathy he looked upon and loved Nature, 
animate and inanimate, as well as his 
fellow men. 
None of Burns’ songs, perhaps are more 
often sung than “ Auld Lang Syne,” and in 
this the Daisy is associated with the spring¬ 
time of life and youth, arftl the memories of 
the olden time : 
“ We twa hae run aboot the braes, 
And pu’d the Gowans fine.” 
In short, he associated flowers with 
every phase of life, in joy and sorrow, 
mirth and grief, pleasure and anguish, with 
which he was ever a boon companion, as if 
he could, and as he actually did, sym¬ 
pathise with his fellow men and women in 
every sentiment and passion which swayed 
their daily life and his own during his 
briet but checkered career of less than 
thirty-eight years. All Nature is laid under 
contribution to his muse ; so that in these 
respects he cannot be accused of narrow¬ 
ness. Spring, summer, autumn, winter, 
with their attendant associations lend 
colour to his poetry, and flowers are often 
