FEBRUARY. 33 



THE DAHLIA. 



\_Plates 83 and 84.] 



The Dahlia has already been so often noticed in our pages, 

 and its history and culture so minutely detailed, that all we 

 have to do on the present occasion is merely to record the 

 merits of the two varieties which embellish our present Num- 

 ber. 



These, Fanny Keynes and Rachel Rawlings, are flowers 

 of great merit, and have been selected by the raiser, Mr. J. 

 Keynes of Salisbury, from among sixteen thousand seedlings. 

 Fanny Keynes was raised from Triumphant, and partakes 

 of the fine erect habit of that variety ; but it is not, how- 

 ever, so tall, the height being about 4 feet. The flowers are 

 large, uniform, and stand out nobly from the foliage on strong 

 footstalks. The colours, so truly and beautifully delineated 

 by Mr. Andrews, are of the most delicate shade. The flowers 

 being of full size, it requires but little disbudding or thinning 

 of the shoots. 



Rachel E-awlings may be termed a chance flower, its pa- 

 rentage not being known. Like the above, it is quite new 

 in colour, and of the most perfect form ; indeed, in this 

 respect very few flowers come near it ; but it is not so cer- 

 tain as the tipped variety, which is one of the most constant 

 flowers with which we are acquainted. Both should be in 

 the possession of every grower of this noble flower, which, 

 and we are pleased to say it, stands as high now in the esti- 

 mation of the public as ever it did at any previous period of 

 time. No one who witnessed the demonstrations at the 

 Brisfhton and London Exhibitions could for a moment doubt 



o 



this fact. The success of the two flowers under notice at the 

 National Floricultural Society, and at all the other great 

 meetings, has fully established their merit ; and we congratu- 

 late Mr. Keynes, who is one of our oldest and most success- 

 ful cultivators of the Dahlia, on the possession of two such 

 beautiful flowers. 



NEW SERIES, VOL. IV. NO. XXXVm. D 



