RIBES, 
145 
RIBES. 
WITH AN ILLUSTRATION. 
The ornamental division of this genus contains a number of 
plants more or less beautiful, all of the freest growth and sim¬ 
plest management, that, by judicious selection and arrangement, 
may be made to contribute largely to the embellishment of every 
garden. Even the coarser growing kinds, which, from their 
weedy, rambling character, are rejected from the dressed portion 
of the grounds, will be found of infinite service throughout the 
shrubbery and wilderness quarters. The habit that renders them 
unsuitable for the former position is here their chief recom¬ 
mendation ; their wild aspect is in perfect keeping with sur¬ 
rounding objects, and their rapid development in any soil or 
situation makes them particularly valuable for filling such spots 
as are refused by other shrubs. Whether the soil be stiff or 
«/ 
stony, wet or dry, in an open exposure or imbedded in trees, 
some species of Ribes may be found that will flourish therein. 
There are some of the family, however, that deserve every 
care for their unpretending beauty, displayed at a season when 
the least addition to our ornamental Flora claims attention. 
Among early spring flowering shrubs they stand unrivalled : the 
well-known JR. sanguideum is seen imparting a charm alike to 
highly-kept grounds of the mansion as to the cottage porch, ere 
we have yet ceased to feel the keen influence of winter. It is 
emphatically everybody’s plant who will be at the trouble of 
merely planting it, and the general estimation in which it is held 
may be judged of by its frequent appearance in gardens of every 
grade. If, then, this species in its simplest form be so great 
and deserving a favorite, what must be the destiny of the variety 
whose portrait now graces our pages, which, far surpassing its 
parent, presents us with double flowers, twice as large as the 
single ones of the species from which it originated, and distin¬ 
guished by a deeper and richer tint. This double-flowering, 
crimson currant is a seminal variety of the It. sanguineum before 
mentioned, accidentally occurring among a bed of seedling plants 
in the possession of the Right Hon. the Earl of Selkirk; and to 
n. 13 
