KEEPING UP A SUCCESSION OF FLOWERS. 139 
to the season, or, in other words, beginning the growth at the 
beginning of the season. 
Our illustration is another seedling raised by Mr. Halley, 
nurseryman of Blackheath. It is one that is sure to arrest the 
attention of all connoisseurs of this beautiful family : the cor¬ 
rectness of its general outline, the great depth and substance of 
its petals, together with its brilliant colour, render it pre-emi¬ 
nently beautiful; in short, it will be a necessary flower in all 
collections. 
Ed. 
ON KEEPING UP A SUCCESSION OF FLOWERS. 
One of the chief objects of the flower-gardener is to keep up, 
as long as possible, a succession of flowers. A parterre without 
blossoms is like an orchard without fruit ; every expedient is 
therefore had recourse to for the purpose of retarding the flow¬ 
ering of some kinds, and expediting that of others. Our eaily 
spring flowers, which are chiefly bulbs and tubers, would be in¬ 
clined to flower again in the autumn, if they were not checked 
by the great heat of the summer in those countries of which 
they are natives ; or if, in imitation thereof, the carefnl florist did 
not remove them out of the bed in which they have already 
flowered. Thus by stopping their growth, while artificially 
treated in a colder and moister climate than their own, we 
delay their blooming till the season when their blossoms are 
most welcome to us. In this way many of these bulbous and 
tuberous-rooted plants may be made to flower at almost any 
season. But there are rules of propriety in the execution of these 
proceedings: a snowdrop would scarcely be regarded at mid¬ 
summer, while surrounded by so many gaudier beauties, neithei 
would the tulip, the bright queen of the garden, look well amid 
the sober tints of autumn. Nature intends that her beauties 
shall be dispersed over the whole circle of the year, and the 
florist assists in this arrangement; and, for this assistance, claims 
for himself the privilege that she shall be to a limited extent 
subservient to him in some instances, while he encroaches upon 
her seasonal laws. The British florist has a peculiar claim 
to this privilege, because he has taken under his care the floral 
beauties of every clime in both hemispheres, affording to each, 
p 2 
