166 THE FLORIST. 



cottage and building in the country, we shall not want fruit, let the 

 seasons be what they may. 



I have never experienced any difficulty in securing good crops of 

 wall fruit, by proper and timely thinning of the shoots in summer, and 

 by doing it myself. Glass as a protection to the blossoms in spring is 

 an advantage, but after the crop is set I would by all means remove it ; 

 but as it is more expensive, and requires more attention, I prefer 

 canvas-rolls and Fir branches, or, what is equally good, Fern or straw ; 

 if the wood is well ripened I would not (nor do I) use these. When I 

 consider the immense quantity of fruit which a good walled garden well 

 stocked with trees annually produces at little cost, I cannot beheve they 

 will ever give way to glass walls. M. Saul. 



The Gardens^ Stourton, Knaresbcyroughy Yorkshire. 



THE HARMONIOUS DISTRIBUTION OF COLOURS IN 

 STANDS OR COLLECTIONS OF DAHLIAS. 



Feasting my eyes wath the gorgeous display of Dahlias brought 

 together for exhibition at Brighton in September last, while I fully 

 appreciated the skill and labour which must have been expended, to 

 produce such beautiful specimens, I was particularly struck with a 

 defect, almost universal, and to me, at the time, quite inexplicable. 

 Though the individual blooms in many, I might say in most instances, 

 were as perfect as high culture and dexterous manipulation could render 

 them, yet there was scarcely a collection, taken as a whole, which did 

 not offend the eye by the palpable want of harmony in the an-angement 

 and distribution of colours. On my return home, I determined to 

 attempt the correction of this faiUng, so far as I was personally con- 

 cerned; not without a vague hope that, if I succeeded, I might haply 

 become the teacher of others. Day after day did I cut, arrange and 

 re-arrange my twenty-four varieties : and mth what success? Truly 

 but indifferent. On one occasion only could I produce (taking, be it 

 remembered, the best formed flowers to be found, irrespective of colour) 

 a tout-ensemble which almost pleased me. I now come to the self- 

 sufficient conclusion (Oh ! the vanity of human nature !) that, because 

 /could not accomplish the object in \^ew, the thing was next to impos- 

 sible. Perfectly satisfied that I had done my utmost to succeed, and 

 equally satisfied that I had, on the whole, sustained a signal defeat, I 

 next proceeded to ascertain the causes of my discomfiture. To this 

 end I proposed to myself the following question: — " Why is it that we 

 so seldom see a collection of Dahlias, in which the various colours are 

 so blended as to form a harmonious whole?" Let us examine the 

 subject a little more closely. 



First. Simple as the operation may appear, it is really difficult, 

 under any circumstances, so to put up a stand of twenty-four blooms 

 as to bring out the fiill beauty of which the combination is capable. 

 He who would do this must possess an eye correct to fastidiousness, a 

 mind imbued with the love of art, and no intuitive taste, mellowed and 



