THE RIVAL YELLOW DAHLIAS. 193 



varieties united. The first is unquestionably the surest mode of con- 

 testing the merits of the dahlias : on the last I will make a few 

 remarks by and by. 



With regard to the proposal to bring the dahlias together at the 

 principal exhibitions throughout England, it is desirable that every 

 latitude and facility should be given with a view to obtain a just 

 estimate of each variety. Mr. Widnall has placed at the disposal of 

 The Royal South London Floricultural Society, and of (I think) 

 The Birmingham Floricultural Society, a prize of five pounds each, 

 to be awarded for the best single bloom of any yellow dahlia. May 

 I be allowed to suggest, that if the prizes were to be awarded for the 

 best two blooms of any yellow dahlia, the judges being instructed to 

 place the next best two unsuccessful varieties side by side with the 

 successful one, the public would be enabled with more accuracy to 

 determine the comparative merits of each than is possible if the de- 

 cision is to be dependent on the result of a trial of single blooms ; 

 for it is quite possible that one of these three may be uncertain, 

 occasionally only producing a flower of great unrivalled excellence, 

 whilst at other times throwing out the most abortive blooms, — hardly 

 possessing a single good character. And this surely is a lusus 

 naturce, — a freak of nature, which Dahlia-growers cannot recognise. 

 In this case, or even with dahlias of a less objectionable character, 

 we are more likely to discover the failings when two blooms are 

 exhibited together, than when the chances of detection are diminished. 



The proposal of Mr. Widnall is so framed as not to confine the 

 contest to the seedlings above named, any other yellow dahlia being 

 admissible. 



Mr. E. P. Dixon, of Hull, has however offered to give a prize at 

 the open Dahlia show, to be held at the Botanic Garden in that 

 town on the 2d of September, for two blooms of the best Yellow 

 Dahlia sent out in 1840. I know not the terms upon which it is in- 

 tended this prize should be contested. Is it allowable for two 

 persons to combine and produce blooms for competition ? If so, is 

 it competent for the judges — in case the persons owning the best two 

 blooms should have failed to combine and set up their blooms in the 

 same stand — to select from the various stands those fulfilling the 

 required conditions of their belonging to one and the same variety, 

 and of their having been sent out in 1840? This might be per- 



