GARDEN CATALOGUES.
It is a liberal education to read some of the garden catalogue that descend at this date upon the country resident. They are very gorgeoUSly illustrated, often in colotir ; and the literary descriptions of flowers; and indeed Vegetablei, make the mouth water. The scope of the catalogue" grows wider, extending even into art and architecture. We are offered tools, statuary, bird-boxes or bird baths and the services of a garden designer as well as mere plants and seeds. But the cardinal wonder of the catalogues is the triumph of what may be called colour-creation. There are novelties in hundreds, and no man of letters, not even Flaubert himself, had ever such a struggle to find the nwl jusle as these com- pilers. The new sweet peas try their ingenuity hardest. Occasionally they confess to the pains of the struggle.
" ROSE MARIE. Novelty. The colour of this variety is unique and is difficult to describe. It may best be described as grey rose or pale wine." " Coral-pink, with lemon keel " ; " cream-pink, suffused crimson" ; "ivory-shaded pale rose" ; " Rich salmon-pink on cream " ; " clear primrose with wire edge of pure rose " ; " terra cotta cerise, suffused orange "-- these all come from one catalogue. To think that the Romans were content with about half a dozen coloured adjectives !
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