WALKS AFTER WILD FLOWERS.—THE PARTERRE OF VARIEGATED PLANTS 
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gaiden; these were Miss Emily Field, with pinkish-white flowers, and Kingsbury Favourite, with the 
flowers a delicate salmony-rose. 
Among the most striking of the novelties recently presented to the National Floricultural Society, 
the following may be mentioned ‘.—Fuchsia Glory , from Mr. Smith, Hornsey; it has large flowers, and 
well reflexed sepals of a rich coral-red, with fine deep violet purple corolla. Pelargonium odoratis- 
simurn punctatum, from Mr. Ayres of Blackheath, one of a promising new class of bedding flowers ; 
this variety has scented foliage, and deep maroon spotted flowers on a pale lilac ground, and°is a cross 
between the fancy and the scented-leaved classes. Calceolaria Heywood Hawkins, from Messrs. A. 
Henderson & Co., a dwarf free-flowering half-shrubby yellow and brown variety, promises to be useful 
in the flower garden. 
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WALKS AFTER WILD FLOWERS .* 4 
IHIHIS, which is the title of a book we desire to introduce to the notice of our readers, tells us that it 
A comes from the Sister Isle; and the author, who dates his preface from Cork, explains that 
the ‘ Bohereens, or “ little roads,'’ in which his walks after wild flowers were principally pursued, 
were the green lanes of the vicinity of that city. But although local in its subject, these “ Walks ” are 
calculated to excite an interest in all who enjoy the pleasures of natural history gossip, since they have 
been the inducement to the collection of a number of very interesting facts and anecdotes, combined 
and digested into a most entertaining and pleasingly-written little volume. The plan adopted is that 
of a series of letters devoted to the popular description, and the antiquarian and poetical illustration 
of the Irish native species of the orders Ranunculaceae to Cruciferae inclusive, as enumerated in 
the British Flora; but although this systematic outline is adhered to, there is scarcely any other 
trace of scientific technicality, and the greater part of the letters are occupied with those points which 
are interesting to all. When we say that the author’s references range from Sir John Mandeville to 
Burns, and from the Library of Useful Knowledge to Shakspere, we give some idea of the variety of 
his reading, and the comprehensiveness of the fields in which he has gleaned, and we willingly bear 
testimony to the taste with which he has selected. We have not often seen a little work better 
calculated to excite a taste for the observation of nature; and while in this respect it is admirably 
fitted for the young, it contains very much that will be read with equal pleasure by those of all ages 
who delight to while away a leisure hour in instructive chit-chat._H. 
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* 
THE PARTERRE OF VARIEGATED PLANTS. 
j|F the present age is distinguished for one thing more than another, it is for the searching scrutiny 
A with which every object brought forward is examined. While great discoveries in art and 
science are being revealed, we are constantly warned by signal failures against entertaining too 
sanguine expectations. The mind thus becomes disciplined into that circumspection which best 
comports with prudent action ; and, as inquiry proceeds, many objects which had long been overlooked, 
or lightly treated, undergo a rigid investigation. During the last few years many common subjects, 
formerly neglected by horticulturists, have been introduced to notice, and have received much attention 
both from the practical operative and the learned theorist. Ferns, Mosses, Lichens, Weeping Trees, 
and American plants, may be instanced ; and it appears now very likely that variegated plants will 
become much more extensively studied and grown as a class than they ever have been. 
The immediate cause of the variegation of leaves has scarcely been satisfactorily accounted for, and 
perhaps it will long remain among the mysteries of nature. It is also a curious fact, that the flowers 
of many variegated plants are singularly inconspicuous. With respect to the markings of the leaves, 
* Walks after Wild Flowers, or the Botany of the Bohereens. By Richard Dowden. London : Van Voorst. 1852. 
