Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

varieties as are likely to lead to improvement; some are very dwarf, very pretty, and in many respects approaching the standard here laid down. To pick out a few of the best of them, of different colours, and cultivate them close together for the purpose of saving seed, would be a task worth any one's undertaking, because the flower is by no means an unimportant one in the season of its bloom, and greatly assists the variety of a well kept flower garden. The Phlox Drummondi, which may be procured now of nearly a bright scarlet, should be one among the number selected for breeding from, though it is an annual; but of course it should be used for crossing with, and not for seeding.

PROPERTIES OF THE PRIMULA SINENSIS.

This flower has been long a favourite, chiefly on account of its coming into bloom all the winter months, but no true florist can like the sadly divided petals, and serrated edges, which distinguish the majority.

1. The flower should be round, free from indentation, smooth on the edge, and thick, the size of a crown-piece.

2. The truss should be large, the footstalks strong, elastic, and of sufficient length to form the flowers into a good round head of bloom, not less than seven blooms on the truss.

3. The plant should be compact, the foliage clean, dark, and not too large; the flower stem should be just long enough to hold the

flowers above the foliage, and the colour be dense

or opaque.

4. In the case of double flowers, they should be round on the face as well as circular in the outline, and should be composed of petals of good substance with smooth edges, and form a complete half ball.

5. There should be but one truss shown, and there should not be less than seven flowers on a truss.

6. The colour should be dense or opaque, whether it be light rose or dark rose or purple, and very pure if a white.

PROPERTIES OF THE LUPIN.

This plant is one of the most showy and varied in a border, and among the numerous species so called-those are the best which have

1. The longest spike of flowers and the shortest plant.

2. The greatest length of spike in flower at one time.

3. The capacity of lasting the longest time in bloom.

4. The most elegantly formed leaves.

The best in cultivation are the Lupinus Polyphillus, whose beauty as a plant before bloom is conspicuous in the narrow, smooth, well-disposed leaves, the long stems, with compact spikes of flowers, and varying in colour from pure white

to dark clear blue. Many of the fancy kinds are more showy in the flower, but not half so good a spike; the foliage more rough and coarse, the flowers larger, it is true, but the spikes very much shorter, the flowers wider apart, the whole plant more straggling.

The plant should be short, bushy, and compact, the foliage small, smooth, and close together, forming a dwarf bushy mass of green.

The spikes should be long, the flowers close together, the whole length of it above the foliage, and on footstalks, varying in length, from the plant to the apex. The flowers should be all in bloom at once, the bottom ones should retain their freshness till the top ones are blown, and the whole form a pyramidal column; the colour should be dense and rich, whether dark or light blue, or white, or any other colour or shade, and if two colours, they should be well defined or contrasted.

The spikes should be numerous, and stand a long time in bloom, which brings us to the best of all properties after form, viz. the petals should be of good substance, and large and smooth.

These refer entirely to the perennial lupinus, among which, as we have said before, the Lupinus Polyphillus and its varieties are the best.

PROPERTIES OF THE AMARYLLIS.

The flowers of the Amaryllis are funnel-shaped, with deep divisions, forming six points, which turn outwards and constitute the mouth of the funnel.

G

The texture of the flower in many varieties is almost as coarse as a half coloured leaf; in others, such as the Jacobaan lily (Amaryllis formosissimus), it is a deep crimson velvet; and some other of the species exhibit this quality in a great degree. No flower is more gay, more curious, and in some species, we may add, more beautiful.

Hundreds, however, of the hybrids are almost as green and as coarse as a cabbage leaf, and the colour, at least the little there is of it, is veiny and ill defined, only slightly mixing with the cold raw green of the principal part of the flower. As, however, it is to the hybrids (so called) that we are to look for improvement, we must reduce the form required to some degree of certainty, and there are some facts which have to be considered.

First, the inside of the flower is always of a better colour and a richer texture than the outside; the more therefore we see of the inside the better.

Another fact is, that the richest colour is always found nearest the mouth of the flower, even of the inside; therefore, the shorter the tube the better is the flower, because there is the less

coarseness.

A third fact is, that pointed segments are ugly and offensive, so also are narrow ones; so that the shallower the indentations, and the less pointed the divisions, the better.

Upon these principles, then, have we decided in our own minds, that the bloom of the Amaryllis should, from the point of the tube next the foot

stalk to the outer diameter, where the division begins, form a triangle; and the whole of the segments, from the part where the tube divides, should turn outwards, trumpet fashion, even to reflexing, so as to show the inside of the flower in perfection. The flower never will be without the division

of the margin into segments, so that all we can hope for is, to get rid of the points and increase the width of the divided portions. But according to our notions of perfection, the proper standard is not what we shall get, but what would look best if we could get it.

The flower then ought to open convolvulus fashion, and have no indentations or divisions ; this brings us to a very good test,

the less division there is the better. The truss, or bunch of flowers, ought to consist of five.

The flowers ought to be very thick, very smooth at the edge, of a

velvety texture inside, and of a dense colour, without any touch of green.

The most perfect in these respects, though the most awkward and ill-formed, is formosissimus, the flowers of which are of a deep crimson velvety texture, rich in the extreme; but there appears to be little affinity between that plant and the gay subjects of the present notice.

There are many varieties in cultivation, not worth the pots they occupy; with deep divisions, the segments running out into long pointed ends; indefinite colours, much stained with green; long

« ElőzőTovább »