FEBRUARY. 27 



not usually propagate for sale. Beauty of TefFont was the 

 first that commanded a high price ; this variety was raised by 

 the Rev. S. B. Ward of Teflbnt, in 1835, and was purchased 

 by the Messrs. Brown for 60/. Then followed Yellow De- 

 fiance, purchased by the same firm at the high price of 200/., 

 certainly the highest amount ever given for a Dahlia ; it was 

 sent out in 1840. Essex Triumph, raised in 1841, was sent 

 out in 1843 for 60/. ; Marchioness of Ormond, 105/. ; Shylock, 

 Beeswing, Alice, and Cleopatra, for 100/. each ; Lady Sale, 

 70/.; Nonpareil, Sir J. Richardson, Duke of Wellington, Bob, 

 Sir R. Whittington, and British Queen, 50/. each ; and Queen 

 Victoria, figured in the present Number, 105/. There are 

 many other varieties that would have brought large sums in 

 their day had they not been sent out by the raisers ; such as 

 the Hon. Mrs. Harris, raised in 1834, Unique, Beauty of the 

 Plain, Mr. Seldon, Sir F. Bathurst, and Princess Radziwill. 

 It does not, however, follow as a matter of course that the 

 higher the price the better the flower ; this is regulated in a 

 great measure by what the flower has done, its popularity, 

 novelty, and improved form. If a flower has made a name 

 from its intrinsic merits, a large sale will follow; the price 

 being generally in accordance with this contingency. On the 

 other hand, some of our finest and most popular flowers have 

 been purchased for trifling sums. Sir C. Napier, red, and 

 Mrs. Hansard, a fancy variety, were sold for 5/. each. The 

 latter, it is true, was purchased from the seed-bed, and there- 

 fore a mere speculation : the former was scarcely known ; but 

 being the purchaser of Shylock and Sir C. Napier, flowers of 

 the same class, it will astonish many that the highest-priced 

 flower was the most profitable in a commercial point of view, 

 Shylock being known to almost every grower, Sir Charles 

 only to a few. Of the 24 Dahlias we have enumerated, 9 

 have gone out of cultivation as show flowers. The oldest was 

 the Hon. Mrs. Harris. Of those retained, the oldest is Essex 

 Triumph. This is still a favourite; the most remarkable fact 

 about which is, that, after it was distributed, it produced 

 blooms beautifully shaded with bright crimson, thereby en- 

 hancing its value and beauty, and causing it to be more 

 esteemed than before. It had two formidable rivals of the 

 same age and class : Mountjoy's Virgil and Trenfield's Ad- 

 miral Stopford. The Admiral stood the longer of the two ; 

 but the Essex flower has " triumphed" over them bcth; and 

 3 are new varieties, which will be sent out next spring. 



In next Number we shall give a descriptive list of the 

 best Dahlias that came out last spring. We have had seve- 

 ral complaints that we did not report the Dahlia shows to the 



