88 BRECK'S BOOK OF FLOWERS. 



ral heresy, I should say that many amateurs prefer Hollyhocks 

 to Dahlias. The Hollyhocks of Belgium and Germany had a 

 great celebrity long before they appeared among us. The col- 

 lections of the Prince of Salm Dyck, and of M. Van Houtte, of 

 Ghent, have been much admired. 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 col- 

 ored differently 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 gen- 

 tleman of Prado, has cultivated Hollyhocks, and from the seeds 

 of a pink variety has succeeded in obtaining plants with flowers 

 of a delicate rose color, and which, in consequence of the ex- 

 treme 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 ob- 

 tained a beautiful, brilliant, clear, sulphur-colored specimen, 

 perfect in every respect. It is from the seeds of those two 

 plants that he has obtained all the other beautiful and remark- 

 able varieties which he now possesses, after a lapse of ten years 

 from his first attempts. As a genera] rule, M. Pelissier prefers 

 flowers with six exterior petals, with entire edges, well open, 

 well set out, of a middling size, of a pure, clear, brilliant color, 

 and forming a perfect Anemone. As the flowers expand, M. 

 Pelissier removes whatever is not conformable to the type he 

 has chosen, or is not of a marked color, and like a perfect 

 Anemone. It is by doing this every year that he has obtained 

 twenty remarkable varieties, the names and characteristics of 

 which have been kindly furnished by him, and are given below. 

 1. Souvenir de Malmaison, delicate rose, flower very full; per- 

 fection. 2. Geant de Batailles, red, flower very full. 3. Vex- 

 tale, fine pure white, flower very full. 4. Anais, rose, flower 

 very full ; perfection. 5. Chromatella, dark yellow, flower 

 very full. 6. Jeune Euphemie, clear red, flower beautiful. 



