10S THE FLORIST. 



heat. By this operation I certainly doubled the number of my new 

 plants, but at the same time I so weakened them in constitution, that 

 they became incapable of producing either early or perfect blooms. 

 If vou try the scheme, you will obtain the same results in nine out of 

 every ten instances. The reason is obvious. 



Refer to the leading article of the Florist for February, and you 

 will find that the distributors of Dahlias are in the habit of paying 

 very large sums of money for seedling flowers of a high character. 

 Bear in mind that the roots composing the " stock " of a seedling are 

 limited in amount; and that from these roots an immense number of 

 plants must be produced within a short time ; since it is by the first 

 year's sale alone the adventurous nurseryman can compensate himself 

 for his outlay and trouble. Remuneration is, and ought to be, the 

 main object he has in view; although a laudable desire to gratify the 

 tastes of you and me may fairly be allowed some share in the trans- 

 action. It follows, then, that excessive propagation becomes, as it 

 were, a necessary evil. You may lay it down as a rule, that before 

 the plant comes into your possession, it will have been divided and 

 sub-divided to its utmost limit of endurance. Any further attempt 

 in that direction must inevitably be followed by disappointment. 



To dealers I would say — Good sirs, you all differ from me concern- 

 in^ the signification of a word. I might, possibly, doubt my own 

 interpretation : but I can produce an unimpeachable witness on my 

 side. Dr. Johnson, stand forth ! What is the meaning of the word 

 "medium?" Answer — " mean or middle state." Good. Now, gen- 

 tlemen, when you are about to prepare your catalogues for another 

 year, I pray you remember the proof I have adduced, that medium is 

 not quite the correct expletive whereby to designate the size of a 

 flower more or less below the average. As most growers make a dif- 

 ference in the treatment of a small and middle-sized variety, your 

 attention to this hint for the future may possibly be the means of 

 preserving one or more of us from some small " trials of temper." 



To buyer and seller I tender my best wishes for the ensuing 

 season, with an earnest hope that the forthcoming novelties may 

 prove a source, no less of gratification to the one, than of profit to the 

 other. 



A.S. H. 



TULIPS. 



There can be no question as to the limited interest which pertains 

 to the cultivation of Tulips in the south, as compared with the warm, 

 even energetic enthusiasm bestowed upon them throughout our mid- 

 land and northern counties. Not only are we out-numbered, but 

 thoroughly out-paced from the very outset. As seedling raisers, of 

 late years the new flowers of the south have been truly few and far 

 between ; and where to point at the present time for an illustration of 

 how to prosecute so praiseworthy an object as that of raising seed- 

 lings, I know not ; while the far-famed Chellastons must for ages 



