98 STUDIES IN GARDENING 



shaped flowers, such as those of most Lilies, are pretty 

 sure to be spoilt by doubling and, indeed, doubling, 

 in the case of these, seems to be against nature. There 

 is no reason in the nature of things why the bell of 

 Campanula persicifolia should be stuffed up with 

 inner layers of petals. On the other hand, the outer 

 ring of florets of most composite flowers is often in- 

 creased when they grow wild in favourable conditions, 

 and such an increase does no violence to the whole 

 structure of the plant. So a good many composite 

 flowers have been doubled without spoiling their 

 beauty. But, even in the case of composite flowers, 

 the doubling has been carried too far. Thus double 

 Daisies have a pleasant, precise, old-fashioned kind 

 of beauty; we have all loved them in our childhood 

 and, therefore, we continue to love them still. But 

 in a batch of seedling Daisies, all intended to be double, 

 there will often occur single forms more beautiful than 

 any double ones. These are usually plucked up and 

 thrown away, since the gardener regards the single 

 Daisy as a weed and the double alone as a garden 

 flower. But there is no reason whatever why the 

 single Daisy should not be developed into one of the 

 most beautiful of all spring flowers, with large white 

 or pink or crimson florets and with a shining golden 

 centre. Even then it would not probably be more 

 beautiful than the wild Daisy, but it would be more 

 conspicuous. 



Thus in the case of doubling there are principles 

 that could be applied pretty easily in most cases. 



