DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF FLOWERS. 117 



ses, than the different varieties in all their numerous col- 

 ors and shades. Its proper locality is is in the front of 

 the shrubbery, or in the back ground of the border. A 

 great improvement has been made in this old-fashioned, 

 ordinary flower, within a few years, that has brought it 

 before the public under a new phase ; and it now bids 

 fair to become as popular as many other flowers that have 

 been taken in hand by the florist. We give the experi- 

 ence of an European cultivator, found in an English paper, 

 to show what can be done in the improvement of this 

 flower. 



"If I were not afraid of advancing a horticultural 

 heresy, I should say that many amateurs prefer Holly- 

 hocks to Dahlias. The Hollyhocks of Belgium and Ger- 

 many had a great celebrity long before they appeared 

 among us. The collections of the Prince of Salm Dyck, 

 and of M. Van Houtte, of Ghent, have been much ad- 

 mired. In other places varieties have been obtained with 

 leaves more or less lobed, more or less entire, more or 

 less palmate, all with flowers large, full, or colored differ- 

 ently from those of other plants, being sometimes of a 

 more or less dark mahogany color, at others of a delicate 

 tint, and varying from the purest white to the darkest 

 glossy black. Some progress has also been made in the 

 cultivation of those plants by themselves. Since 1830, 

 M. Pelissier, jun., a gentleman of Pradp, has cultivated 

 Hollyhocks, and from the seeds of a pink variety has suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining plants with flowers of a delicate rose 

 color, and which, in consequence of the extreme delicacy 

 of their tints, and regularity of form, may serve both to 

 encourage perseverance and as a good type for seed. 

 In the following year, from the seeds of pink flowers, he 

 obtained a beautiful, brilliant, clear, sulphur-colored speci- 

 men, perfect in every respect. It is from the seeds of 

 those two plants that he has obtained all the other beau- 



