OF THE PAIR, OR COLLECTION.

The pair or pan of more, should comprise flowers of different and distinct colours, either the ground colour or the yellow of each being sufficiently different from the rest to be well distinguished.

The whole should be so near of a height as to range the heads of bloom well together.

The great fault of the Polyanthus now, even among the best sorts, is that the divisions between the petals are so wide as to make the flower look starry, whereas there should be no more gap where the division is, than is in the indentation of the petal itself.

PROPERTIES OF THE CROCUS.

Simple and beautiful as this spring flower may appear, there are as many degrees of excellence as there are varieties. It requires no very forcible reasoning to prove that, if the flower forms a perfect circular cup, with scarcely any indenture on the edge, it is much handsomer than when it forms a starry one, and therefore we conclude that such should be its form. Thickness of petal is a property which is essential to all flowers, not more for its richness than for its lasting qualities, for thin petals are very fragile

-a few hours' sun will destroy them, while thicker ones will bear it often day after day; besides which, the colours are more dense.

Simple, therefore, as the Crocus may be, the following points are necessary to make it perfect :

1. It should be composed of six petals, three inner and three outer, but fitting so close as to form a cup the shape of half a hollow ball.

2. The petals should be broad enough, and blunt enough, at the ends to form an even edge all round the cup, and lap over each other so much as to have no indentations where they join.

3. The petals should be thick, and smooth on the edges, without notch or serrature.

4. The colour should be dense, and all over the same, if the variety be a self; and the marking should be very distinct, if variegated.

5. It should be hardy enough to stand the frost, for those which are spoiled by the frosts which come after they flower are almost worthless, because they all bloom early, before the frosts are all gone, and therefore their only beauty would be destroyed unless they stood the cold well.

Lastly. They ought to bloom abundantly, the flowers succeeding each other, to lengthen the season of their bloom.

It will be seen that the properties of the Crocus do not vary materially from those of the tulip; and a visit to any of the gardens where they are cultivated in great variety will convince a person of taste, that the nearer they approach the standard, the more beautiful they are.

THE PETUNIA.

The

The common white Petunia, a flower with a tube and a broad flat surface round it, like a convolvulus squeezed flat, was introduced about 1823, from the Brazils. Mr. Tweedie afterwards introduced the purple one, in 1830, from Buenos Ayres, and from these two we have endless varieties, some larger and better than the original; and all those retained are presumed to have some claim on the score of novelty: but many have great faults, and there is not a flower more requires weeding of worthless sorts. facility of raising them from seed will prevent any but first-rate flowers from being reckoned choice. The plant is at first bushy and handsome-but it grows very rapidly, soon becomes straggling and ugly, and requires to be cut back, or supported by a frame or sticks. We have every shade, from deep purple to light blue, and from deep crimson to pink, every imaginary tint. Many of the varieties have been thought worthy of names; but not half attention enough has been paid to the qualities of the sorts so honoured. The Petunia is capable of being brought to a shrubby habit, yet one half of them require tying up to supports. They are by no means graceful climbing plants, even at their best; and gardeners, who have endeavoured to show their skill, by making a specimen cover a large space, have rather exhibited mechanical ingenuity, which is no part of their province, than upheld their reputation in their own profession.

PROPERTIES OF THE PETUNIA.

1. A Petunia should have strong stems and a close habit-large, thick, round, and flat flowers; abundance of bloom, while short and handsome.

2. The colour or shade is a matter of taste; but such is the fancy of people in these days that a new ugly colour would be thought more of than an old handsome one.

3. Such is the state of glorious confusion into which modern botanists have brought things by their silly antics, that when Mr. Tweedie sent home the purple variety, Dr. Hooker called it Salpig lossisintegrifolia; Professor Don, Nierembergia phoenicia; and Dr. Lindley, Petunia violacea. Yet these are the people who pretend to teach the uninitiated how to know plants.

PROPERTIES OF THE PINK.

The properties of the pink, so far as form, substance, and some other particular features are concerned, should be the same as those of the carnation and picotee.

1. The flower should be circular, and rise like half a ball.

2. The petals should be thick, broad, smooth at the edges, without notch or serrature, regularly disposed, and each row smaller than that immediately under it.

3. The ground should be pure white; and the colour, whatever it may be-from rose-colour to dark red, or from lilac to dark purple, ap

proaching black-should reach from the inside of the petal far enough outwards to show in front beyond the petals above it, and form a rich eye.

4. A narrow plain even lacing or stripe of the colour should appear inside the white edge, which should be just the same width outside the lacing as the lacing itself is, and as even.

5. There should be no break or vacancy in the lacing, and the colour inside of the petal ought, as well as the lacing, to be well defined, forming a circular coloured eye or centre to each row of petals.

6. Self-coloured petals, split petals, and split pods, are disqualifications. Notched or saw-like edges, broken or imperfect lacing, specks or foul marks on the white, thinness or flimsiness of texture, looseness of construction, or deficiency of petals, are glaring faults.

7. In a general way, in all other respects but the size and colouring, the properties of the pink should be similar to those of the carnation and picotee; and no pink ought to be less than two inches in diameter.

The progress of the pink-that is, the transition from saw-edged petals to rose-leaved petals, as they are improperly called, has been slow; and such is the disposition to a serrated edge, that some of the kinds which will one season bloom almost without a notch, will in other seasons be rough and serrated. But this disposition may be conquered by any one raiser of new sorts, who will uniformly throw away, or give away, all the varieties which come at all rough, or which do not exhibit a manifest improvement, and reserve

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