xxxiv INTRODUCTION 



There are Carnations and Dahlias and Roses that 

 look like weary Titans unless every flower head is 

 supported with sticks. This defect is not seen in 

 separate blossoms exhibited at a flower show; but it 

 is glaring in a garden, and ought to banish them from 

 all gardens. It is important that we should cultivate 

 in ourselves and in our florists a nice sense of propor- 

 tion in all the parts of a plant. No one can say ex- 

 actly what is the limit of size beyond which the flowers 

 of a particular plant ought not to be developed; but 

 it is easy to see that every plant ought to carry its 

 flowers with ease; and, besides this, the size of the 

 plant itself, the nature of its habit, and the character 

 of its leafage should be considered. A small creeping 

 plant may usually have larger flowers than an erect 

 plant of the same size, because it can carry them 

 more easily; and indeed among mountain plants 

 there are many with flowers very large for their size. 

 Also, a plant with large leaves can endure larger 

 flowers than a plant with small ones; and obviously 

 a large plant can endure larger flowers than a small 

 one. Yet this plain fact is often ignored by florists, 

 who will dwarf a plant without decreasing the size 

 of its flowers and so destroy the greater part of its 

 beauty. The dwarf Snapdragon is a case in point, 

 which looks as much a deformity as a human dwarf; 

 and the dwarf Sweet-pea is not much better. 



The doubling of flowers is a part of the same ten- 

 dency to grow plants for their flowers alone, which 

 is often carried to excess. Most flowers are more 



