272 FLOWER GARDEN, 



own, and cultivators occasionally raising at one sowing a 

 dozen kinds which they think worthy of preservation. Tho 

 results have been most propitious to the flower garden, 

 from which, indeed, the Dahlia could now neaily as ill be 

 spared, as the potato from the kitchen garden. 



The varieties of Dahlia may be classed under tt e follow- 

 ing heads: 1. The Common or Camellia form, imder 

 which the double sorts first appeared. This is by far the 

 most numerous class, and perhaps the most beautiful. The 

 dwarf sorts are in most repute. 2. The Anemone-flowered, 

 having a radius of large petals, and a central disk of smaller 

 ones, somewhat like the double anemone. 3. Globe-flow- 

 ered, having small globular flowers, which are extremely 

 double. They possess great intensity of color, and, rising 

 for the most part about the leaves, make generally as 

 striking an appearance as those of a more massive efflores- 

 cence. 



In a fine Dahlia the flower should be fully double, always 

 filling the centre ; the florets should be entire or nearly so, 

 regular in their disposition, each series overlapping the 

 other backwards : they may be either plain or quilled, but 

 never distorted : if, instead of being reflexed, the florets 

 are recurved, the flower will be more symmetrical. The 

 peduncles ought to be strong enough to keep the blossoms 

 ♦rect, and long enough to show the flowers above the leaves. 

 Bright and deep velvety colors are most admired. 



Dahlia competitions now excite great interest in the 

 floricultural world ; almost every considerable town having 

 its annual show, when gold and silver medals, cups, and 

 other pieces of plate, are keenly contended for ; private 

 amateurs and professional cultivators competing respec- 

 tively among themselves. Fine flowers have become so 

 numerous that it were a hopeless task to offer a list. 



