PROPERTIES OF THE CAMELLIA JAPONICA.

There may be an apparent similarity in the properties of many double flowers, because thick petals, smooth edges, circular flowers, dense colours, high crowns, apply to all, or nearly all. The Properties of the Camellia Japonica may be classed thus

PROPERTIES OF THE FLOWER.

1. The flower should be circular on the outside, when looked at in front.

2. The petals should be thick, smooth at the edges, broad and blunt outside, cupped or reflexed, as the case may be.

3. It should be imbricated (that is, each petal should have its centre over the join of the under petals), each row of petals should be smaller than the row immediately under it.

4. The number of rows, one above the other, should form the flower into half a globe.

5. The colour should be alike all over the flower, if a self; and if blotched or striped, the contrast of the two colours should be striking.

6. If the flower be white, it should be pure; and if white and coloured in mixture, the white should be distinct and the outline of a blotch or stripe, where the white and colour joins, should be very decided.

PROPERTY OF THE PLANT.

1. The foliage should be large and bright, the

leaves close together, the joints short, and habit bushy.

2. The flowers should come singly and at the ends of shoots, so as to bloom free from the leaves.

Long straggling joints, like the variety called Reticulata, are objectionable; foliage dull and small like that of the same variety, is also detrimental to the appearance, and therefore forms another objection; rough ragged blooms, however large and showy, are a great drawback, hence Reticulata possesses a third very objectionable character, and no plant was ever more overrated. Pointed petals, like those of Eximia, are greatly against a flower, and in this case spoils a variety which has many other beautiful properties open ragged-looking flowers like Donkellaria, however striking, are bad; and we may safely say, that there is no class of flowers, of which even the best, or rather the most esteemed varieties, are capable of so much improvement.

PROPERTIES OF THE CHRYSANTHEMUM.

We expect a sort of remonstrance against the properties which we shall set down as desirable in the Chrysanthemum, because the forms of the present varieties are as numerous as were those of the Dahlia when the published rules first set to rest the properties of that universal favourite. There were among them at that time anemonieflowered, China-aster-flowered, globe-flowered,

single, and semi double, flat, starry, and ragged flowers, to say nothing of colours. In the Chrysanthemum, we are told in a very recent publication, that there are the ranunculus-flowered, the incurved, the China-aster-flowered, the marigold-flowered, the clustered, and the tasselled, all of which, except the ranunculus-flowered, are untidy and flimsy. Great efforts have been made to bring these flowers into notice, and shows have been established at which the judges have not known by what rules to award the prizes, or which flower was the best. We affirm with great submission to those who pride themselves on this flower, that it is impossible to select one less fit to exhibit, cut from the plant, and that individually there is nothing to hope for in the bloom itself that should raise it to the dignity of a florist's flower; but as there is great merit in growing the plant well in pots, and as the plant is showy when there is a scarcity of bloom in a house, they ought always to be shown in pots only, and the merits of the plant be taken into account quite as much as that of the bloom, and as such we shall notice both.

1. The plant should be dwarf, shrubby, well covered with green foliage to the bottom, the leaves broad and bright, the flowers well displayed at the end of each branch, come in abundant quantity, and be well supported by the

stems.

2. The flower should be round, double, high in the crown, perfect in the centre, without disk or confusion, and of the form of half a ball.

3. The individual petals should be thick,

smooth, broad, circular at the ends, according with the circle of the flower, the indentations where they meet hardly perceptible.

4. The petals must not show their undersides by quilling, and should be of such firm texture as will retain them all in their places.

Size of bloom to be large in proportion to the foliage, but the size only to be considered when plants are in all other respects equal.

The properties we have described bring a good flower under one of the two classes, ranunculusflowered, or marigold-flowered, and therefore we pronounce the tasselled, the quilled, the incurved, and all ragged and confused varieties, as well as all those which exhibit a disk, to be inferior to the other flowers in all the points in which their deficiences can be recognized, and sincerely hope that there may in a few seasons be a sufficient number of good ones to enable us to banish them altogether as show flowers.

PROPERTIES OF THE VERBENA.

1. The flower should be round, with scarcely any indenture, and no notch or serrature.

2. The petals should be thick, and flat, and bright.

3. The plant should be compact; the joints short and strong, and distinctly of a shrubby habit, or a close ground creeper, or a climber; those which partake of all are bad.

4. The trusses of bloom should be compact,

and stand out from the foliage, the flowers touching each other, but not crowding.

5. The foliage should be short, broad, bright, and enough of it to hide the stalks.

PROPERTIES OF THE AZALEA INDICA.

1. The flower should be round, composed of five divisions, though only one petal; and the indentures, where they join, should be so small as not to materially interrupt the circle.

2. The petal should be thick, and of course to be round the ends of the divided portions should be blunt, lap over each other, and be free from notch, serrature, or blemish.

3. The flower should be large and slightly cupped; the colour should be distinct, dense, and if a self, alike in all the petals, or rather the divisions.

4. If variegated, the colours should be distinct, and, if spotted, the spots should be so much darker than the other colour as to form a strong

contrast.

5. The leaf should be bright green; the plant shrubby, the wood or stems strong, to stand without support, and short, to form a compact bush.

The great faults of the present favourite varieties are flimsy pointed flowers, weak stems, straggling plants, dingy foliage; and, beautiful as they may look, they can be improved greatly in two years. The two years are up, and some