234 THE FLORIST. 



more abunJantly late in the season than in summer, fine 

 flowers often expanding at the end of October. To the cul- 

 ture of this group (Bourbon) we may perhaps find occasion to 

 return specially hereafter. 



THE HOLLYHOCK. 



As it has been proposed to have an exhibition of this beautiful flower 

 in or near London during the 3-ear 1853, the following renriarks may 

 perhaps not be considered out of place in your pages. They have 

 been suggested by an excellent article on the same subject, which 

 appeared in the Gardener's Chronicle of September the 18th, under 

 the initials J. E. 



With regard to the "properties" or form which a good Holly- 

 hock should possess, the individual flower has often been well enough 

 described ; but one very material point has not been sufficiently 

 attended to, namely, the manner in which the flowers should be 

 arranged on the spike. However perfect in form each individual 

 flower may be, if a Hollyhock do not " spike up" well, that is, if the 

 flowers be not so arranged as to conceal the stalk completely, at the 

 same time without being too crowded, it cannot be called " first 

 rate." Nothing spoils the appearance of a stand more than to see, 

 as one frequently does, two or three spikes which exhibit an inch of 

 green stalk between each flower ; and for this reason a little over- 

 crowding is less objectionable than the reverse. But in a first-rate 

 Hollyhock the flowers should be arranged one above another in 

 regular gradations, at such distances as to be liable to neither ob- 

 jection. 



The drooping habit also alluded to by J. E., which some varieties 

 possess, is very objectionable ; it gives a mean appearance to the 

 spike, for which no excellence of form or beauty of colour altogether 

 compensates. 



As respects the mode of exhibiting, there will probably not be 

 much difl"erence of opinion that " ginger-beer bottles" ought not to 

 be allowed ; and the suggestion by J. E. of eleven spikes (or any 

 uneven number), to be staged in two rows, the front row alternating 

 with the back, is an excellent one : when twelve spikes are shewn in 

 two rows of six and six, they look far better than in three rows, and 

 the proposed alternation will greatly improve their appearance. As 

 to the size of the boards upon which they should be exhibited, it 

 will perhaps be better not to make any very stringent regulations at 

 present, until we have more experience, but to leave the matter, for a 

 time at least, to the judgment of exhibitors. A board fifteen inches 

 in width, with holes nine inches apart, as proposed by J. E., w^ould 

 not give nearly room enough for two rows of well-grown spikes, 

 which are often from seven to eight inches in diameter ; and when 

 the spikes alternate with one another, it will be necessary to leave 



