7. The spots on the upper petals, or the marks in any other, should not break through to the edge.

8. Colours being a matter of taste do not affect the real properties so much as other points, unless it be on the score of novelty; on this ground a bright scarlet would be desirable, and a black spot. We have plenty of approaches to both, but none very near.

9. The plant should be shrubby in its habit, the foliage close, and of a rich bright green, the joints short and strong, able to support themselves in every part without assistance. The flower should be large, not less than five in a truss, and come at the end of every shoot.

The obvious faults of most geraniums are, long and pointed lower petals, uneven, twisted, notched, or puckered edges, long footstalks, which make the truss loose and open, weak shoots, and stalks, that will not hold up the flowers without propping, which destroys the appearance of the plant altogether; small leaves and long joints, which make the plant open, the habit gawkey, and the foliage poor.

The societies which intend to encourage the geranium should give prizes for plants only one year old, from cuttings, require only one truss of bloom, but allow as many as any body likes to grow; consider none to be trusses which have less than five blooms, require all to be shown in 32-sized pots, and have the nursery-men's class twelve, amateurs' six; allow a class open to every body for single plants and seedlings, in which only one truss shall be allowed to the

plant, and the seedlings should compete with the named flowers, and, as is the case with the auricula, allow no support of any kind whatever.

With regard to large specimens, the reader may take our word for one fact-not one of the trusses out of the hundreds exhibited will be found so good as it ought to be; and though they make, under the present rules of showing, a great staring object, they have not a solitary merit that should engage the attention of the gardener, the man of taste, or the man of business. The gardener ought never to be employed on such effeminate work, as placing a hundred sticks to a geranium; the man of taste would despise it when it was done, and the man of business would view it as a waste of time and labour.

PROPERTIES OF THE CROWN IMPERIAL.

The fault of this plant is, that it is too large for the small portion of flowers which it has when at its best; to compensate for this in some measure, the foliage is handsome, and highly ornamental. The principal objection to the flower is its dingy colour, exhibiting, as it does, only the outside of the bloom. The plant doubtless takes its name from the peculiarity of its form. It grows upright, after the fashion of the common white lily; but the leaves are longer, and handsomer, the flowers come out near the top, in a row of bells or tubes, touching each other, and reaching all round the stem, and the top of the plant, which continues to grow, form a

beautiful crown of foliage above this bunch or row of bells.

1. The plant should be from the ground to the bells twice the length of its longest leaves.

2. The tubes, or bells, should be close to each other, on footstalks three inches long, standing out horizontally half their length, and gracefully bending downwards the other half, so that the bells are suspended at a distance from the main stem, and touch each other.

3. The colour should be bright lemon, bright yellow, or bright orange colour.

The bells should be large, and as long as one and a half of their diameter; the mouth widest, and turned both out and up to show a portion of the inner surface.

The margin should be level, and free from indentation or serrature. The crown should not exceed in height the space occupied by the flowers; that is, there ought not to be more green above than there is yellow below.

PROPERTIES OF THE PEONY.

The Peony, like the Hollyhock, is in general a confused mass of petals and florets, crowded like some of the Roses into such a heterogeneous flower, that it is difficult to define what it is, though we may in some measure determine what it should be to become beautiful. As a plant it may be tolerated; as a show-flower never; the principal quality in a show-flower is symmetry and variety. In the Peony, there is comparatively neither. The only one fit to exhibit as a

plant is Arborea, or the tree Peony; but they hardly bear the moving, so flimsy are the petals. What may be done by culture from seed, in time, we know not; but the most beautiful specimen that could be conceived, would be so inferior to the Rose, or the Dahlia, that it would be idle to treat it as any more than a plant for out of door culture. The only points, then, worth seeking, are :—

1. The petals should be thick, broad, and smooth at the edges.

2. The flowers should be large, double, round outline and face, symmetrical and abundant.

3. The foliage small, the stems strong, and the bloom should stand up boldly, and by no means hang down.

4. The colour should be dense, and decided. We do not regard the single ones, except as common garden plants, many not being worth the room they occupy, and all of them too shortlived in bloom to be grown, except as botanical curiosities. It will be seen from the few words we have said, that the arborea has come nearest our standard at present; the large crimson, and other double herbaceous kinds, are noble ornaments in a border, but there are the objections we have started equally applicable to all.

PROPERTIES OF THE PHLOX.

This is one of those windmill kind of flowers, which naturally look poor and weedy, but which should be in almost every respect of an opposite

character. The following are the principal points to be kept in view in attempting their improve

ment:

1. Every individual bloom should be perfectly round and flat, without notch, division, or serrature.

2. The petals should be thick, and smooth.

3. The individual flowers should, by their number, form a good head or truss, touching each other, rising in the centre, and not confused.

4. The colour should be dense, and pure; if white, or yellow, or straw, or cream colour, it should be decided, and all over alike; if striped, or spotted, the marking should be uniform, and well defined.

5. The individual blooms should be large, and the truss proportionably so; though size counts for nothing if the other properties are deficient.

6. The plant should be dwarf, and branching; and the flowers numerous, so as to cover it completely when it blooms.

The Phloxes constitute a very numerous family, very much varied in their habits, colour, and general nature; they comprise perennials and annuals. Of the latter, there is nothing more beautiful than Phlox Drummondi, whether we look to its colour, or habit; in a pinch of seed there will be many shades of colour, some very nearly scarlet. The perennial kinds spread very much in the ground, and are easily propagated by parting the roots; new varieties may be raised from seed. The month of August affords the best opportunity of selecting such