very beautiful varieties fully realize this prediction. PROPERTIES OF THE CAMPANULA. This numerous class of flowers should be true to their names, or rather, their names should have been true to them. Bell-formed, is synonymous with Campanula, yet we find the name given to flowers which are more the form of a star. Those which are not bell-formed, may be estimated as the world likes to think of them, for us. It is almost vain to talk of the properties of Annuals, because they are dependent on chance altogether; you may select the best, and save seed from them, but you cannot be certain that one in a thousand will come like the parent. Those which are capable of propagation, from themselves, by cuttings, layers, slips, eyes, suckers, &c., may be improved-and the improved varieties alone propagated-but in plants which must come from seed, all you can do is to seed from the best, and throw the worst away, that your seed may present you with a better average quality, and then hope for the best. The question is, what are the best properties of a Campanulated flower ?-and the most difficult part to settle of all these oddly-formed flowers, is the shape that would be best. One of those who settled the perfection of a tulip, decided that it should be the "form of a cup"-there F being a thousand differently formed cups-and we, if we followed such an example, should decide, that the flower of the Campanula should be the shape of a bell-there being as many shapes of bells as there are of cups. Some bells, and especially those of modern structure, have no turn out at the edge, but are simply about half a hollow ball with a plain edge; but the ancient bell was, when turned upside down, like a deep cup with a turn over lip. These indefinite forms are better left alone than recommended, because they leave a subject more in the dark than they find it; it is better to bring matters to a point that every body can understand. The old bell form is something like the following: Now there is nothing that describes the exact form of this: let us fancy then what would be the richest looking form; and to do this, let us go to the globe or circle to help us; suppose, for instance, we deIcide that the bell shall be in the middle the same diameter as its height, and that a circle should describe the bottom, the two sides, and the base it stands on. To make this as rich as it can be, the form of the bell should follow the circle to the amount of two-thirds, and then turn outwards: here we come to a decision which all the world can understand, and the only ques tion is, are we right as to the proportions that look well? Because if we are, we have reduced it to a mathematical certainty, instead of leaving it to imagination or caprice, to determine what is the proper shape. The bell then is to be one diameter high-for two thirds of it must form a hollow ball, and the other third must turn outwards; and the more it turns out, even if it reflex, the bet ter; or, if the turning out merely forms a larger trumpet-mouth, thus: it is only inferior to the former in not showing the inside, which it does, when it reflexes. The next essential, is to have the edge perfectly smooth and even; the divisions which are always there being as slightly marked as possible, and no points nor indentations to be seen. The other points necessary, are those without which no flower can be good: the texture must be thick, the colour pure, and the outside of the bell as bright as the inside. These essentials would raise the Campanula much imagine such flowers upon the common Canterbury bell of the garden, or the Chimney Campanula of the house. But did any body ever see such bell-shaped flowers on the Chimney Campanula? Why they are more like a star than a bell; and capable, as this plant is, of improvement, people are content to propagate it as it is, instead of raising varieties from seed, and getting one worthy of the trouble that is taken to produce this miserably imperfect thing in fine order. It has been often wondered why it is not a more general favourite,-the answer is in the shape of its flowers;-it is a gay, but an illlooking thing at the best: the eye does not rest pleasantly on it; there is no depth in its flowers -no symmetry, no size-it is mean. There is no reason why these bad points should not be got rid of in a few seasons. The form we have given for the flowers is right for every one of the species; it cannot be wrong for any one of them, and according to the habit of the plant, so the bells may hang pendent, or turn outwards. In branchy plants, they should hang pendent like the Fuchsia; in plants with only upright shoots, they would look better with their mouth outwards or upwards, according to the height of the plant. We sadly want to see the horrible looking star flowers banished from the face of the garden, and proper forms encouraged in their places; so that wherever there are kinds, and there are many, which have these monstrous ugly forms, the sooner the florist takes them in hand the better. The florists have made many flowers so much better, that botanists have altogether lost their favourite species; though to meet the insatiable appetite for novelty and quality which pervades the floral republic, they are obliged, most reluctantly, to admit the splendour, and praise the beauty of the garden varieties. PROPERTIES OF THE GERANIUM OR 1. The petals should be thick, broad, blunt, and smooth at the edges, and slightly cupped. 2. The flower should be circular, higher at the edges than in the centre (so as to form rather a hollow, though by no means a deeply cupped bloom), without puckering or frilling; and where the petals lap over each other, the indentation caused by the join should be hardly perceptible. 3. The petals should lie close on each other, so as to appear a whole flower rather than a five petalled flower. 4. The stem should be straight, strong, elastic, carrying the blooms well above the foliage. The footstalks of the individual flowers should be stiff, and of sufficient length to allow the flowers to show themselves in an even head, fitting compactly edge to edge, and forming a uniform bold truss. 5. The colour should be bright and dense, whether it be scarlet, crimson, rose colour, purple, lilac, or any of the modifications, the spots on the upper petals should be boldly contrasted with the ground, and the darker the better: both upper petals should be alike, both side petals alike, and the lower petal uniform. 6. All white grounds should be very pure; and the colours, no matter what they be, on the white, should be decided, well defined, and by no means flush into the white. |