THE LON ON AND PARIS LADIES' MAGAZINE FOR MARCH, 1854.

21

Morning cap of worked muslin and narrow green satin

ribbon.

Sleeves of cambric and lace, with bows of blue ribbon on

one and yellow on the other.

DESCRIPTION OF MODEL.

With this month's number we present our readers with

the model of a shawl-mantelet suitable for the season, which

may be made of moire, satin, taffetas, velvet, &c., and trimmed

with guipure velvet, plush frisé, fringe, or frills. The part

forming almost a sleeve is made by cutting it with the back,

and forming seam with the bias of the front. It is open at

the throat, and meets at the waist with a brooch or pin.

Collin's Princess Royal, Buck's George IV., Nicholson's

King, Craiggie's Timandra, Collyer's Prince Regent,

Craiggie's Bertram, and Clegg's Prince of Orange. In

pots they should be cultivated like auriculas, with the

exception of the soil being two-thirds rich hazel loam.

They must never be dry; and, as the fibres grow close to

the pot, they must not be frozen. In the ground they

take no harm. After blooming they are parted into single

hearts, and they never bloom so well as when all side

shoots are removed as soon as they appear. When shown

there should be but one truss, whieh, like the auricula,

should have seven perfect pips, although only five are

wanted in the north. They must never be allowed to get

dry, and must have all the air that can be given in open

weather. In beds or borders they will grow themselves;

but the greatest care must be taken that no slug or snail

be allowed to touch them. They must be constantly

examined to prevent it.

a

THE POLYANTHUS.

а

There is hardly a spring flower that awakens so much

interest as the polyanthus, nor is there any of so fine a

character so much neglected. In the country, it is true,

WHAT IS LIFE?

there are many humble florists who still pay attention to

its culture ; and if we desire any addition of healthy plants,

Life! thou question of all ages-

we must go northward. We are in great hope that as the

That around us, yet unknown,

Manchester Botanical Society holds a show the last week

Keep'st thine ever-thronging myriads

in April, we shall see this beautiful tenant of the border

Subfeet to thy mystic throne :-

exhibited in perfection. At present there is not one good

Life, whence springing, --whither going-

grower round London for many miles; and those who

What becoming-oh, explain-

order them of metropolitan nurserymen will have them

Let us know thee less imperfect,

from the country second-hand, or will get plants that the

Let our searching be less vain!

buyer can do nothing with. They require a rich loam;

a natural border, which the mid-day sun does not reach,

or, if in an open space, shading from the extreme heat;

WHAT IS MAN?

and a mixture of one-third well-decomposed cow-dung is Chemically speaking, a man is forty-five pounds of carbon
all the addition wanted. Some of the best varieties have and nitrogen, diffused through five and a half pailfuls of
been in cultivation for years, and for a very long time the water.- Quarterly Review.
only novelties worth adding that have come under our

What is a man
notice are Fire King and the Duke of Northumberland,

If his chief good, and market of his time,
now for the first time advertised to come out. Pot culture

Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.
is resorted to for exhibition, but their beauty is to be seen Sure, He that made us with such large discourse,
in the ground, for the flowers are perfectly flat, and are Looking before and after, gave us not
then to be seen to the greatest advantage. Of the poly- That capability, and god-like reason
anthus there are two distinct characters, the pin-eyed and

To rust in us unused.

--Shakspeare.
the thrum-eyed; in the one the pistil comes above the
face, and is like a pin with its head exposed, while the an-

Why, he stalks up and down like a peacock, a stride and
thers with their farina are concealed at the bottom of the

a stand; ruminates like a hostess that hath no arithmetic but
tube. These are not valued, although exceedingly beauti- politic regard, as who should say, There were wit in his head,

her brain to set down her reckoning ; bites his lip with a
ful as border flowers. The others have the pin very short, and 'twould out; and so there is; but it lies as coldly in him
and the anthers with their farina fill up the tube, and rise as fire in a flint, which will not show without knocking-Ibid.
above the surface. These are the show flowers. This
fact accounts for the difficulty of obtaining new varieties.
The thrum falls down to the pistil or pin, and the flower
fertilises itself; the consequence is that most seedlings MARCH.-The third month according to the calendar
are like the parent. The proper way to obtain a change of Numa and Julius Cæsar, but in the calendar of Romu-
Trould be to fertilise a pin-eyed one of desirable colour and lus it stood first, in honour of his reputed father, Mars.
character with the thrum of a good variety, which is Aries is reckoned the first sign of the zodiac, and con-
comparatively easy, because the pin, being above, can be sists of sixty-six stars. It is usually called the vernal
got at well. But even then the vast majority will be pin- sign.-From the Almanack for 1851, issued by the Directors
eyed like the parent, though varied in "colour. Still, for of the Bank of Deposit, which, in addition to the usual
anything very novel, we should look to the progeny of contents of an almanack, gives a synopsis of the working
these pin-eyed ones. A few good ones for the young of the Bank of Deposit and National Insurance and
cultivator would be Fire King, Duke of Northumberland, Investment Association. See advertisement on second
Lord Crewe, Fletcher's Defiance, Pearson's Alexander, page of wrapper.