ON DOUBLE FLOWERED STOCKS, 297 
red petals, and the pistil into green leaves, and the quantity of each 
greatly increased. In the Rhododendron the flowers are produced 
from the terminal bud of the shoot; if the summer and autumn have 
been warm, the buds swell larger, and we have a branch of flowers 
instead of a branch of leaves the ensuing spring; but it is always 
difficult to say, till the bud is evolved, whether we shall have leaves or 
flowers. In raising double or full flowers from seed, therefore, we 
should carefully guide our attempts by experience; in procuring the 
seed, we must get it from the most double flowers we can, as the progen 
always bears more or less resemblance to the parent. In the Dahlia 
the flower is not, strictly speaking, full; it belongs to the compound 
class, in which a great number of florets are arranged on one common 
receptacle ; in single Dahlias, and other flowers of this class, the ray 
or outer row of florets has the petals fully evolved and coloured; in 
the florets of the centre or disk, the petal is only in the state of a small 
tube, inside of which the stamensare situated. Rich cultivation forces 
these tubes to assume the state of coloured petals; sometimes tubular, 
as in the quilled Dahlias, and sometimes flosculose or flattened, as in 
others ; sometimes the stamens are changed into petals, sometimes they 
are abortive, but generally both these and the pistillum are unchanged. 
and hence there is little difficulty in getting seed from Dahlias. 
Plants that are full of double flowers at one time, when the plant is 
vigorous, will change and come more single when checked by bad 
weather, or when the plant begins to ripen and get woody. To return 
to the raising of seedling double flowers: Roses, Pinks, Carnations, 
and Ranunculus change the stamens only into petals, and sometimes 
these are only partially so in very full flowers, and seed is compa- 
ratively easy to be obtained from them; we should, as before observed, 
select from the fullest and best flowers. In the Anemone the pistils 
are changed into petals, the stamens unchanged ; seed of these can, 
therefore, only be obtained from flowers not perfectly full, or by im- 
pregnating flowers nearly single, with a tendency only to fulness, with 
the anthers of full flowers. In Stocks and Wallflowers both stamens 
and pistil are changed into petals ; and the best resource is to save seed 
from those blossoms which have a tendency to fulness, by having a 
petal or two more than usual. In growing Stocks from seed they will 
be more likely to be double, if the plants are checked first by a defi- 
ciency of nourishment, whether of water or manure, and afterwards 
excited to luxuriance by a plentiful supply ; and the greater the change, 
the greater the likelihood of success, Old seed, or seed dried, gives a 
check ; we have had instances of old neglected seed, which had been 
reckoned very inferior when the seeds were fresh and new, come almost 
every plant double, when a little had been left over and sold when old. 
The seed for raising double flowers of any sort can hardly be too old, 
if it will grow at all; and the weak plants, first stunted and then 
luxuriated, will be found most successful ; the seed should be sown on 
heat, and the weak plants most cared for. After flowers have once 
been produced double or full, the habit of coming double will be 
retained, if kept so by rich cultivation. When any variety has begun 
to sport, the plants should be raised off those individuals which have 
