THE RIVAL YELLOW DAHLIAS. 195 



experienced the uncertainty attending the growth of the dahlia, — the 

 disappointment occasioned by a boisterous wind ; a defective petal or 

 two; a bloom too far gone, or one not sufficiently blown in the 

 centre ; and such like unavoidable occurrences. We all know how 

 many plants of first-rate, varieties we pass by on the morning of an 

 exhibition without finding one bloom upon them that may be said to 

 possess every requisite for being placed in a stand, alone, against 

 twenty or thirty competitors. If Mr. Sharpe had challenged any 

 single grower of Defiance or Henrietta to exhibit blooms against his 

 Argo, he would have done what he was fully entitled to do, and set 

 an example which it is desirable should be generally followed. 



Mr. Widnall would, I doubt not, gladly exhibit Argo against 

 either or both of his rivals ; and the well-known excellence of his 

 blooms, and the extent of his stock of plants of Argo, would fill 

 every one with the expectation of witnessing the best blooms that it 

 can be made to produce. But we are not all Csesars ! What 

 Mr. Widnall may do we cannot emulate. How mortified would 

 Mr. Sharpe and his friends feel themselves on the morning of the 

 exhibition, if an accident, similar to one of those above named, should 

 destroy his hopes of establishing the fame of Argo I How little 

 grateful would Mr. Widnall feel towards Mr. Sharpe on learning the 

 defeat of his favourite Argo, a defeat more readily accounted for by 

 himself than obliterated from the minds of those who might be 

 guided by the result of the trial — which, virtually, was no trial at all. 

 However much Mr. Widnall might applaud the partiality and zeal of 

 Mr. Sharpe, he could not but regret the indiscretion of which he had 

 been made the victim. I wholly disdain any intention of wounding 

 the feelings of Mr. Sharpe : my observations are not intended to be 

 directed against him personally, but against the mode of warfare 

 which he propounds. 



What I say of Argo is equally applicable to Defiance and Hen- 

 rietta, and I cannot but think that the growers — one and all — of 

 these dahlias would feel themselves more honoured by the breach 

 than the observance of such trials as Mr. Sharpe proposes ; at any 

 rate they would protest against such trials being considered as 

 decisive of the comparative merits of their respective dahlias. I would 

 recommend that the several Committees of open shows, and of 

 societies, should offer prizes for the best two blooms of any yellow 



