6 THE FLORIST. 



sincerity, that whatever I have written has been penned with the ulti- 

 mate hope of obtalnini/, rather than of imjxirting information. 



These observations will apply with redoubled force in connection with 

 that part of my subject I am now approaching, viz., a consideration of 

 the new Dahhas of 1854. In this category I find before me a list of 

 some two dozen varieties, more than half of which I have grown, and 

 the remainder I have seen, more or less, on some few occasions. The 

 remarks I have to offer concerning them are the result of my own 

 limited experience onlij. If they possess any value, it is solely because 

 (within the bounds of that experience) they are strictly honest and 

 impartial. 



To proceed : the Dahlias sent out in May last have not, upon the 

 whole, been exhibited in so good a state as when shown as seedlings in 

 1853. Nor need this be a matter of surprise, since a like result will 

 almost always occur, in a greater or less degree. The reason is obvious. 

 When a seedling is to be put upon its trial, it enjoys pecuhar advantages. 

 Being then, for the most part, in the hands of its raiser, it experiences, 

 so to speak, a kind of parental care and solicitude : from the earliest 

 period of its existence to the time it is " brought up for judgment " 

 it is watched and tended with the utmost anxiety ; every appliance of 

 art and nature is summoned to its aid ; and when, at length, it is 

 produced before the world, it follows, as a matter of course, that it 

 comes forth in the highest state of perfection to which it is capable of 

 being raised. Now let us note the career of such a production. Week 

 after week it is exhibited, three or six blooms as the case may be, and 

 always in excellent condition. Such a gem cannot escape observation. 

 Every grower looks upon it as a great acquisition, sees, in imagination, 

 its splendid appearance in his stands for the ensuing year, and orders it 

 accordingly. The stock, it may be, is limited, while the plants required 

 are very numerous. And what, now, is the fate of this pet, this spoiled 

 child, which has been reared in the lap of luxury ? Alas ! the usual fate of 

 pets awaits it, and it becomes the victim of over-popularity. Poor John 

 Barleycorn himself was never subjected to more barbarous usage. But 

 the demand is great, and the supply must be made to keep pace with 

 it, be it ever so enormous. Our unfortunate subject is therefore /brce«:/ 

 and drimn to, and almost beyond, its utmost powers of endurance ; for 

 every bud it produces must, if possible, be converted into a distinct, inde- 

 pendent being, having a perfect organisation of its own, and complete 

 in all its parts. Nor is this all. In due time a plant thus artificially 

 reared comes into the possession of the grower, who, instead of nursing 

 it tenderly, is too often anxious to " make the most of it" in another 

 sense ; and who, under the erroneous impression that he will have a 

 better chance of blooms from two or three plants than from one, still 

 further mutilates and multiplies it, unthinking that he is deteriorating 

 the quality in the exact ratio that he increases the quantity of his new 

 acquisition. What marvel, then, that under such unnatural treatment, 

 the constitution of the variety should have become seriously impaired ? 

 It may retain indeed the principles of simple vitality : it may grow freely, 

 and be, apparently, healthy and vigorous, and yet its powers of repro- 

 duction may have suffered to such an extent as to render it incapable 



