420 FLOWERS OF 



in dwarfishness. The yellow inconspicuous florets of 

 the disc have been expelled to make room for the 

 showy deep-coloured florets of the ray : what is more 

 remarkable still, the same yellow inconspicuous florets 

 of the disc have been enlarged, and stained with rich 

 marone, so as to rival the colours of the ray, without 

 losing their own peculiarity of form ; and, finally, 

 the whole foliage and bearing of the plant has been 

 altered by the substitution of simple leaves for com- 

 pound ones. Many hundred varieties of Dahlias are 

 now offered for sale by nurserymen ; and the prizes 

 offered at Horticultural Exhibitions, and the stimulus 

 of emulation among gardeners and amateurs, has in- 

 creased the rage for new forms of the plant to such 

 a degree, that perhaps a Dahlia-mania may run its 

 exciting round in our day, more general, if not so 

 dangerous or pernicious, as the Tulipomania that 

 affected the florists of the seventeeth century. PHIL- 

 LIPS, in his Flora Historica, says, the Dahlia, in floral 

 language is to be regarded as the emblem of instability ; 

 as it was introduced into this country by Lady BUTE, 

 in 1789, the year of the French revolution ; then lost 

 from bad management and again introduced by Lady 

 HOLLAND in 1804, when NAPOLEON was proclaimed 

 Emperor of the French ; while it was not till 1814 

 that the downfall of the Emperor, and the consequent 

 peace, enabled gardeners to obtain that copious sup- 

 ply of roots and seeds from France, which has resulted 

 in the cultivation of the Dahlia in the extensive 

 manner that we now witness, with such ornamental 

 effect in the autumnal parterre. 



Beautiful as the Dahlia has been made, the old 

 favourite of rustic gardens, the Hollyhock, is not to 



