180 



the bill footed up over eight hundred dollars, where it was 

 expected one-quarter of that sum would cover the expense. 

 But we were in for it, and must make the best of it, and 

 I consoled myself with the thought of the pleasure that 

 would be derived in watching the opening of these gor- 

 geous new varieties. One plant each was received, accord- 

 ing to agreement, about the middle of June, raised from 

 cuttings taken from the small tubers; but they were so 

 weak and attenuated, and the season being unfavorable, 

 they proved a perfect failure, and not a single blossom from 

 the whole rewarded me for the expense, trouble, and vex^ 

 ation which I experienced. It is said of a certain South- 

 ern Senator, who was violently opposed to the old tariff, 

 and of course to manufacturers of cloth, and to the an- 

 imal that produced the raw material, so bitter were his 

 feelings, that he remarked in one of his speeches, that 

 " he would go any time a mile out of the way to kick a 

 sheep." I have no such feeling of hatred and spite against 

 the innocent Dahlias, but when I think of these past ex- 

 periences with it, it produces feelings somewhat akin to 

 those of the statesman as expressed in his speech. How- 

 ever, I will give no more kicks at this flower, but some- 

 what modify my original article on the Dahlia, and present 

 it in the following shape : 



" In queenly elegance the Dahlia stands, 

 And waves her coronet." 



This flower is so capricious in its flowering, so subject to 

 the ravages of insects, so much influenced by too much heat, 

 too much dryness, or too much wet ; and then, just as it be- 

 gins to give promise of abundant bloom, having escaped all 

 the casualties of the season, is cut down by the frost as it is 

 beginning to give promise of flower, that after so many 

 disappointed hopes, I have sometimes been disposed to 

 say I would not try it again. It must be confessed, how- 

 ever, it is on some accounts desirable ; the flowers are 



