290 ILLUSTRATIONS. 



might otherwise liave been the case, and with justice too, for such a 

 monstre meeting was indeed a glorious sight. I hope that for 1851 a 

 general and ample fund may be formed, and tliat once again we may at 

 least rally round our well-tried Royal South London Floricultural 

 Society. 



" Of novelties there have been quite an average number shown, and 

 in sufficient profusion for persons desirous of purchasing for next sea- 

 son's growth being enabled to form an opinion of the merits of the 

 flowers then exhibited. For myself, I add, ' give me the opinion of 

 some successful growers and showers of whose integrity, judgment, and 

 taste we have had ample evidence by the style of their productions ;' 

 this, I say, is the only private opinion worth recording. 



" I shall be but little surprised if, after such a protracted season, in 

 1852 a larger number of seedlings will be exhibited than usual; from 

 all accounts the stock of seed likely to be harvested will be immense. 

 At this writing (October 25th) my plants are in as vigorous a state of 

 bloom and growth as at any time during the season, and with fine noble 

 seed-pods ' thick as blackberries.' 



" Being favoured with an intimation that my Seedling Fancy Dahlia 

 ' Mrs. Hansard ' was to form the illustration for the December Cabinet, 

 the following remarks on its ^ birlh, parentage, and education,' may 

 not prove unacceptable. In 1848 I saved one pod of seed from Yellow 

 Standard (Keynes); the produce in 1849 was eleven plants, and if 

 variety really be charming I succeeded most certainly. The eleven 

 plants all bloomed the same season : one was a semi-double white self; 

 a second was a fancy pale yellow tipped white, with petals too long ; a 

 third Mas a purple flower, in every Avay t^lmilar to Samuel Girling 

 (Girling's), which chanced to be growing very near, and proved so by 

 comparison, and shared the same end, viz., was destroyed. There were 

 also two yellow selfs, but of less merit than tlieir parent ; then a yellow 

 with mottled red edges; and, with the variety now figured, completed 

 the batch, and the latter was the only one saved. It is the property of 

 the Metropolitan Union, and christened ' Mrs. Hansard ' in compliment 

 to the head of that firm. That its constancy has been tolerably well 

 tested the following will demonstrate — two hundred blooms have been 

 shown here, there, and everywhere ; and moreover, on several occa- 

 sions, from the seven plants I grew at HoUoway, from twenty to thirty 

 su])erb blooms might have been cut at the same time. It is of robust 

 haliit, and will bear ' well growing ' admirably ; tlie large blooms being 

 quite free from coarseness, and the smaller fit for the choicest six. 

 Perhaps one bloom produced at the Highgate Show was par excellence 

 the bloom of the year, and I must confess to have felt a little proud to 

 hear it pronounced the best bloom of the exhibition. I never saw a 

 petal that was not fairly and distinctly tijjped. The yellow is rich, 

 bright, and dense, and the white pure, with but a trifle of protection." 



First-class certificates were awarded at — CJremorne Gardens, Stoke 

 Newington, Halstead, South London, Leamington, Shacklewell, Nor- 

 wich, and Highgate, Grecian Saloon, and Slough. 



Also Extra Prizes at Cremorne, Leamington, South London, 

 Shacklewell, Norwich, and Highgate. 



