THE MOORS.* BY THE HONOURABLE HENRY LIDDELL. THE moors! the moors! the bonny brown moors! The return of spring, And the gorse and the broom Of their golden bloom, 'Tis a joy to revisit the bonny brown moors. And pipes his shrill whistle the gray curlew; And the heathcock crows on the mountain crest; The moors! the moors! the fragrant moors! When the heather breaks forth into purple flowers! When the blazing sun Through the Crab hath run, And the Lion's wrath Inflames his path, What garden can vie with the glowing moors! Are melted and lost in the twilight gray, And the stars peep forth, and the full orb'd moon And the rippling water reflects her light Where the birch and the pine-tree deepen the night— Oh! who but must own his proud spirit subdued By the calm of the desert solitude, So balmy, so silent, so solemnly fair, As if God were riding the mountain air, And might commune with man on the moorland bare! From the Keepsake. ̧ The moors! the moors! the joyous moors! Blows across the heath, By the peep of dawn o'er the dewy moors. Of the hart brought to bay by the deep mouth'd bloodhound; The moors! the moors! the desolate moors! Rears his giant form On the rock-built throne That he claims for his own, To survey the wild war on the desolate moors. For the winds are let loose, and the sound is gone forth And the lightning and hailstone and hurricane fly When a deer is slain on the hills, the hunters disembowel him on the spot, and then leave him on the heather with a handkerchief tied to his horns to scare the beasts and birds of prey from his carcass. Mr. Landseer's spirited pictures of Highland sporting show the manner in which the game is brought home on the rough ponies of the country. In allusion to the death of the late Duke of Athol, whose magnificent hospitality will long be remembered by northern tourists. VOL. IV. THE FLORIST. No. IV. THE DAHLIA. THE cultivation of the Dahlia has received considerable encouragement from the recent establishment of societies for awarding prizes to the best growers; and perhaps of all the beautiful flowers that adorn a garden, it is the gayest during the autumnal months. Every year produces new and splendid varieties in colour, form, and habit; and the improvement that has taken place within the last few years is almost incredible. It is but a short time since there were scarcely a dozen, and these either single or so little removed from it, that thousands of better flowers have been since thrown away to make room for more choice and valuable sorts. The varieties comprise every shade in yellows, scarlets, crimsons, browns, orange colours, rose colours, and of late some approach nearly to black, and others are beautifully mottled and striped. The specimen which we present is perhaps one of the most perfect in its way; but notwithstanding all that has been done, and is still doing, in the production of new flowers, the properties of a fine Dahlia are imperfectly understood, and few profess to know what properties are the most desirable to attain. Our own opinion is decided; the standard we should adopt would be that of a flower, it is true, of much smaller growth, but nevertheless beautiful. The perfection of the Dahlia should exhibit the same properties as the perfection of the ranunculus, so far as a single bloom is concerned; the petals should be broad, flat, stiff, round and smooth at the edges, lying regularly row above row, and, as it approaches the centre, becoming more upright, and the centre ones turning in wards; it should be high in the crown and perfect, without exhibiting the slightest appearance of an eye or disk; the under part of the flower perfectly flat, and not inclining downwards, the colour of the outward petals should not fade before the centre is blown, and the flower should be from three to six inches over. At present, we have but few Dahlias which combine all these properties; and it is the opinion of many, that it is not desirable to have the flower flat on the under side, and more espe cially as it would shut out many of the most beautiful specimens now in cultivation: for instance, the Countess of Liverpool, a beautiful scarlet, which in full bloom is a perfect globe; Douglas's Augusta, a splendid purple, shaded with ruby colour, and the flower of which is as perfect at the back as in the front; and many others which, in their way, will not be surpassed. We, however, are of opinion, that when flowers in all other respects as perfect as these shall be produced, with petals flat at the back, so that the whole of the bloom can be seen at once, that one additional property will give them a decided advantage; and until such perfect flowers be produced, the Countess of Liverpool and Douglas's Augusta, and others of the kind, will maintain their places in the most choice collections. But we are not without flowers possessing all the properties we have mentioned; for instance, Agripina, the bloom of which is beautifully formed, the petals short, flat, stiff, round, and smooth at the edges, and delicately shaded, the lower petals largest, and the others gradually diminishing to the crown, so that the whole flower is seen at once. But there are other varieties of form equally beautiful, and more scarce, in which every petal forms a sort of cup, the edges turning upwards, but the under ones are largest, the others gradually smaller to the centre; in short, in other respects possessing all the essential properties of these varieties; one of the most beautiful is Denisi, a rosy crimson, raised by Mr. Dennis; and another, which is thought to surpass it, is quite new, and is about to be supplied by Mr. Widnall, of Granchester, near Cambridge, and is called Perfection; a third, which is equal to either of them in all but colour, was raised at Tooting the last summer, and is in the possession of Mr. Inwood; these varieties are quite new in character, and very beautiful. We annex to this article a list of the names of the best known varieties, with their descriptions, for it is not difficult to foresee that a collection of Dahlias, small or large as the extent of ground and convenience may suit, will be considered indispensable in every garden. We ought to observe, that each variety may be perpetuated with care, and that they are as well known among florists as so many varieties of fruit, or so many different specimens of plants. The establishment of the Metropolitan Society for the Encouragement of Floriculture has already caused an excitement with respect to the Dahlia, which must lead to emulation, not only among professed florists, but also among private persons. The prizes awarded to the latter as well as the former, at the first meeting of the society, have set many who never grew a Dahlia industriously collecting the finest specimens ; and we anticipate, in 197 another year, that the delightful science of floriculture will be considerably adwhich embraces many objects, and is vanced by the operations of a society, likely to be well supported by the nobility. The Dahlia, besides its high claims, as one of the most beautiful blooming when other ornaments of the tribe of flowers, has the advantage of garden are fading or faded, and it continues its contribution to the beauty of the chrysanthemum, until hard frost the parterre, with its solitary companion, life, for they die with the blossoms on seems to cut off both in their prime of them. THE TULIP. THE present month is the busiest in the year among all the cultivators of fancy tulips. The arrangement of the beds for planting is one of the most interesting tasks, for not only does the enthusiast see over again, in his excited imagination, with the remembrance of all its features, the bloom of each root as he handles it, but figures to himself with vivid colouring the anticipated bloom of the next; for whatever may be said of the tulip mania in Holland, (where legislative interference was required as a check) it scarcely exhibited stronger instances of devotion to a fancy than may be found in individuals of the present day. That the possession of a bed of tulips is becoming one of the necessary ornaments of a garden is evident, and, although many distinguished females once thought it derogatory to grow that which owned enthusiastic admirers among humbler classes, it was no sooner known that a bed of tulips could be found that would buy a well - filled conservatory in respect to value, than the false pride which deprived them of a splendid tribe of flowers began to give way, and the recent adoption of the tulip as one of the attractions of a garden by one whose rank and taste Dutch collections was somewhat dis- Mr. Lawrence, of the Red Lion Inn, at Hampton, who has the best inn for a snug family dinner, and the best garden for a bed of tulips, within a good many miles, is, perhaps, one of the greatest enthusiasts of the present day; the mania has been strong upon him for weeks; every time a dinner is laid, his bed of tulips stands before him in all their perfection of colours, every thing he touches is handled with the greatest delicacy, every dish on his well laid tables, are, in his eyes, so many Roses, Byblomens, and Bizards; instinctively raises or lowers the fire or the windows, that the company, like his tulips, may be in a proper temperature. We are not sure that he has a bad bottle of wine, but he we are quite sure, that if a visiter only asks him two questions about tulips, and then orders the wine, if there be a bottle better than all the rest, up it comes. A new variety of tulip raised by the late Mr. Clarke, of Croydon, was, at his death, sold for 100%, and the tulip growers exhibited great discontent at the sale of the collection, that this flower had been previously sold by private contract. The difference is this; in the usual method the classes described by the figures run across the bed from side to side, in sloping lines, and in the improved they slope from the centre to the sides, in a sort of herring-bone pattern, by which means each side of the centre is uniform, and the beauty greatly increased. C. WHITING, BEAUFORT HOUSE, STRAND. |