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THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



points. The geranium has become a florists' flower. Why not the 

 petunia ? It is not less beautiful in its varied and vivid colours, 

 and much longer continuance of bloom. To constitute a good 

 petunia the characters should be as follows : — The flower should be 

 as near a circular form as possible, merely showing five slight in- 

 dentations on the outer edge, and which should lap over each other, 

 making up the circumference, also indicating the size of petal. 

 Secondly, the centre line or rib in each petal, which commences at 

 the base of the tube at each division of the calyx, should be of suffi- 

 cient substance to hold each petal in its proper form, also tapering 

 from the base of the tube to a point at the petal edge ; otherwise, if 

 not of sufficient strength, and too much indentation between each 

 petal, the flower will have a flimsy appearance, as is the case with by 

 far the greater number. On the other hand, too heavy a line is 

 often observed, and this is nothing less than coarseness. Thirdly, 



the very beautiful pencilling and marking in the tube, the greater 

 portion of which are on the upper part, should end abruptly, so to 

 speak, that is, not to intrude on the surface of the flower, whether 

 selfs, or flowers with white sulphur, dark violet, or purple tubes ; 

 otherwise than this is coarseness. Fourthly and lastly, the habit 

 should be dwarf and free, what might be called a soft grower; if, on 

 the contrary, hard wooded, they are very difficult to keep through 

 the winter and to propagate. I am quite certain it is capable of 

 being brought to a dwarf, shrubby, and compact habit, having my- 

 self, at the present season, seedlings of from six to eight inches high 

 literally covered with bloom. These being cross-bred, I shall term 

 Hybrid Dwarf Eedclers — a style of growth so much wanted for 

 bedding purposes as well as for pot culture, being alike desirable 

 either for the conservatory or for beds and borders. 



Free flowering scarcely need be added. I rarely ever saw one 



