DESCRIPTIVE LIST OP FLOWERS. 109 



to the florist, their value for ornamental purposes cannot 

 be compared with that of some of the improved old stand- 

 ard varieties of the flower-garden. The science, skill, and 

 perseverance, of amateur gardeners and florists, have 

 transformed many comparatively inferior species of flow- 

 ering plants from a state of simplicity and inelegance, to 

 that of gorgeous magnificence. We can hardly believe 

 our senses, as we call to mind the great improvements 

 that have been made in many of the races of ornamental 

 plants, with which we have for years been familiar. 



Let us look at the Verbena, hardly known twenty years 

 ago, now sporting into every conceivable color and shade, 

 excepting yellow, always in bloom, and never tiring. Or the 

 Portulaca, with its shining scarlet, purple, yellow, orange, 

 white, and variegated blossoms, ever bright and beautiful, 

 making itself perhaps too common, but certainly very gay 

 and lively, and forming an indispensable appendage to the 

 flower-garden. But these single varieties are now eclipsed 

 by the recently introduced double sorts, as large and as 

 double as a Hose, with all the brilliant colors of the single. 



That awkward flower, the single Zinnia, has been trans- 

 formed into a full double flower, as large and as perfect in 

 shape, as the Dahlia, with greater brilliancy of color. 



Who would recognize the Aster, the old-fashioned China 

 Aster, since, by the florists hands, it has been transformed 

 into the variety called " Pa3ony-flowered," a class unsur- 

 passed in brilliancy of color, perfection of shape, and in 

 size equal to the Dahlia ; or, into the other beautiful va- 

 rieties of Pompon shape, Imbricated, Bouquet, and many 

 other styles of beauty, unknown only within a few years ? 



Then the Dahlia, the Gilly-flower, Petunia, Balsam, 

 Chrysanthemum, Phlox, Hollyhock, and other old denizens 

 of the flower-garden, how have they been transformed, 

 their beauties made more beautiful, and their varieties 

 multiplied! 



