SEPTEMBER. 261 



this rule more fully carried out, as our Scottish friends are very partial 

 to size in Dahlia blooms. For our part, we infinitely prefer quality, 

 by which we mean a well formed petal and centre, clearness of colour, 

 substance, and that form that is proportionate to the due preservation 

 of these qualities ; for if a flower is grown for size, these quahties are 

 too often more or less sacrificed. Mr. Charles Turner, of Slough, sent, 

 not for competition, a box of Dahlia blooms, in which Bessie, Admiral 

 Dundas, and two or three others, were perfect models. Mr. Turner 

 also sent a collection of Hollyhock blooms that were greatly admired, 

 because the like had not been seen there before. " See," said some of 

 our Bradford friends, " what a different cfimate does ! " But our reply 

 is, not so much climate as what better culture does. There lies the 

 secret ; and we shall recur to this subject on a future occasion, as it is 

 one of great importance. In the spring we gave a lengthened article 

 on the " Wintering of Florists' Flowers," and as winter will shortly be 

 approaching, we beg earnestly to direct our readers to a perusal of that 

 article, as it pointed out serious defects in the wintering of our leading 

 florists' flowers, and gave practical information in the shape of a remedy. 

 In regard to Dahlia culture, there is much to be said against the plan 

 pursued in the north, and we shall shortly say more on the subject. 



Some of the plants exhibited at the Bradford show would not have 

 disgraced Chiswick or the Regent's Park — two coflections especially, 

 one from Edmund Waud, Esq., and the other from H. W. Wickham, 

 Esq., were deserving of the highest praise. Thanks are especially due 

 to Mr. Thomas Milner, for his courtesy and good management on the 

 occasion. 



GARDENIA FLORIDA. 



There are some plants in every collection, both stove and greenhouse, 

 which do not thrive under the usual treatment given to other plants, 

 and which, indeed, seem to require a special kind of management to 

 grow them in the perfection they are capable of attaining when treated 

 accordingly. One of these is the plant which heads this article. As 

 generally seen in a common stove it rarely looks healthy, and various 

 species of insects seem to have so great a partiality for it that many 

 persons discard it on that account, and when kept free from these trouble- 

 some intruders, and even grown tolerably well, it rarely blooms in that 

 perfection to warrant much care being bestowed on it ; and yet, when well 

 done, how dark green and glossy is its foliage ! Of what a pure white are 

 its blossoms, so abundantly produced, and of such a delightful fragrance, 

 that there are only a very few flowers which can vie with the Cape 

 Jasmine (for so it is popularly called) in this respect. The simple fact 

 is this, that during the growing season, which should be from March 

 to July, this plant should be transferred from the stove to a close pit. 

 When plunged in a bottom-heat, and subjected to a powerful top-heat, 

 say about 70°, it will thrive prodigiously ; and further, if the steam 

 from a dung lining can be introduced, they will like their quarters all 



