FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 321 



a florist's flower must be a perennial, and capable of multipli- 

 cation by some one or more of the ordinary means of propaga- 

 tion, or by their own spontaneous efforts. For many years 

 the florists' of England, and perhaps of the whole world, 

 prized novelty without having any standard by which they 

 could prize other excellence. Hence a new thing, whether 

 better or worse than was possessed already, was coveted by all 

 who pretended to collect and cultivate collections, and bore a 

 large price, although soon thrown aside to make room for 

 better. Of later years, there were writers who professed to 

 give the criterions of excellence, but as these were founded on 

 no principle, floriculture, as it was called, progressed slowly. 

 A man might, among a thousand seedlings, see many varia- 

 tions ; but as the criterion of perfection, so called, was not 

 well defined, but on the contrary, was calculated to puzzle 

 him still more, the selection of those remarkable for some 

 change in the colour, instead of those with good properties, 

 made the progress towards excellence very slow. At length, 

 however, a standard was laid down which, although perfectly 

 ideal, was founded on principles which everybody could under- 

 stand ; and admitting the fact that it was almost impossible 

 to realize this standard, the floral world at once saw and 

 understood what to aim at in their selection, and the science 

 rapidly advanced. 



The principal florists' flowers for many years were the tulip, 

 the hyacinth, the ranunculus, the anemone, the auricula, the 

 polyanthus, the pink and carnation. But we have seen added 

 the geranium, the rose, tlie verbena, the dahlia, the hollyhock, 

 the cineraria, the fuchsia, the calceolaria, the picotee, the 

 pansy, and many others ; for whatever is capable of improve- 

 ment, and is once taken in hand by florists, has been and 

 will continue to be improved by enthusiasts who are content 

 to grow thousands for the chance of getting one really good 

 novelty. 



Annuals. — These are plants which come from seed, grow 

 and bloom, perfect their seed, and die the same season ; they 

 are great favourites, because they are very soon in flower, and 

 they are esteemed ia proportion to the time their beauty lasts, 

 some of them are in perfection but a short time, others con- 

 tinue blooming for a long time, because they continue growing 

 and each shoot brings its bloom — as examples of the former 

 we may mention the larkspur, and of the latter, the French 



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