68 MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Rival, and several others ; and yet, in all these cases, the outline of the petal 

 was good, and it was only the manner in which the inner part was disposed that 

 caused the defective appearance. The petals of Windsor Rival and sevtral 

 others were mentioned in contradistinction. It was necessary that the petals 

 should be proportionate. Pickwick was an example of too small a petal, whilst 

 in Andrew Hofer, Unique, Maid of Bath, &c, they are too large. Petals like 

 those in Warminster Rival and Countess of Pembroke often had a striking ap- 

 pearance, but the flowers in which they occurred could never be depended upon ; 

 they were always thin and deficient in the centre. Reflexed petals were gene- 

 rail)' considered to le bad. and so they are, if they all reHex. or do so in the 

 strict sense of the term ; but it is absolutely necessary that some should be de- 

 pressed, as otherwise it is impossible to obtain a deep flower. If the back petals 

 be too horizontal, the flower, working from a flat base, will be shallow, with a 

 low centre ; but if, on the contrary, it works downwards from the disk, the 

 under petals will be well depressed, but the cupping will be r gradual, and the 

 centre high. Now these are the opinions of all who have a knowledge of the 

 flower ; but until recently the very opposite idea was entertained ; and in a 

 lecture delivered at the Metropolitan Society a very few years ago, the following 

 remarks occur : — '•' The only flower which is perfect on the outer edges, and 

 foims a perfect circle without notches, is the 'Springfield Rival;' this fails 

 on the side view, because the eye does not rise to the top, and the back petals 

 reflex. Our notions of perfection may be estimated thus: Would the Springfield 

 Rival be handsomer if the eye or crown rose up to a complete half-circle with 

 all its present beauties P Secondly, would it be better if, instead of the present 

 reflection of the petals on the under side, they were perfectly square and flat ? 

 If these points be conceded, our notions of perfection are established ; for cer- 

 tainly in the beauty and accuracy of the petals no art could effect an improve- 

 ment, nor could the compasses of the mathematician improve the circular out- 

 line of the Springfield Rival as you view it front." The lecturer evidently was 

 not at that time aware, that the concession of the one point must defeat the 

 other. Mr. Wildman agreed that a long petal was decidedly bad, but that too 

 short a one was equally so ; and he had always set down flowers described as 

 having short-cupped petals as worthless. They should not be short — they 

 should be proportionate — for if they be short, the centre can never be high, but 

 will be generally hard and the lower flat. All flowers vary so much, according 

 to seasons and localities, that, however careful may have been our observation, 

 there is still some risk in selecting any particular variety as the best. In the 

 year 1841, President of the West was decidedly pre-eminent; in 1842 it was 

 worthless. In 1841 Catleugh's Tournament was very good; in 1842 it was 

 equally bad. The finest bloom of any Dahlia he saw last year, in fact as beau- 

 tiful as any he had ever seen, was a bloom of Lady Cooper, exhibited by Mr. 

 Bragij, at Salt-hill ; not a fault was to be seen, and although of extraordinary- 

 size, it was as close and delicate as the smallest flower. Those who have grown 

 Lady Cooper in the neighbourhood of London, where it fails on account of the 

 hardness of the eye (though not excessive even there), can scarcely conceive the 

 difference. The next point was arrangement, which, if not good, would have 

 the effect of damaging all the rest ; for the flower being composed of rows of 

 petals, placed evenly one above the other, in decreasing concentric circles, it 

 must be obvious that the slightest'malformation in the receptacle, or in the man- 

 ner in which the petals were placed in it, would have the effect of causing a 

 derangement which often pervades the whole flower; one petal displacing ano- 

 ther throughout. This defect in some varieties occurred but seldom, in others 

 frequently, and in some constantly ; in some it was accidental, in others consti- 

 tutional ; and if, in the latter case, it were at all considerable, it must be fatal 

 to the variety. Various instances of this derangement were given ; and it was 

 remarked that, under such circumstances, censors were never justified in attri- 

 buting these occurrences, in a new variety, to accident, and that the only safe 

 course was to be governed by fact, and not by conjecture. Independently of 

 the mere arrangement of the petals, the transition from the fully-expanded ones 

 to those completely closed should be regular and gradual from the centre, both 

 with regard to the size of the petals and to their expansion. Sometimes all the 

 expanded petals were nearly of the same size, when a disproportionate space 



