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MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETF. 



The first account we have of this flower is its mention in Hernandez' His- 

 tory of Mexico, printed in KJSl, in Madrid, in which two species are figured 

 under the name of "Acocotli;" both are single flowers, — one probably 

 Dahlia crocata, the other variabilis. 



An Italian work on the Natural History of Mexico was published in 

 Rome about the same time, in which two dahlias — one single, the other 

 double — were figured under the name " Cocoxochitl." In these works the 

 roots are described as tuberous, and of a bitter taste. 



The next notice is by Tliiery Menonville, who was sent to Mexico by 

 the French government, in 1787, to procure the cochineal insect and its 

 plant. He saw some Dahlias near Guaxaca, and described them as having 

 large aster-like double flowers, stems as tall as a man, and leaves like an 

 elder. 



In 1789, Dahlia variabilis was discovered in a wild state in Mexico by 

 Humboldt, and sent by him to Madrid. Seeds were the same year sent 

 from Madrid to the Marchioness of Bute. 



A seedling, semi-double, flowered in 1790, and was figured in Icones 

 Plantarum, when the genus was named Dahlia, in honor of Andrew Dahl, 

 a Swedish botanist, and the plant (now Dahlia variabilis) called Dahlia pin- 

 nata. In the same work. Dahlia rosea (now lost) and Dahlia coccinea were 

 afterwards figured. 



Plants and seeds were sent to Paris in 1802, with the idea they might 

 be edible. The seeds sent to the Marchioness of Bute, though vegetating, 

 never produced any results of importance, and the plants were soon lost. 



In 1802, an English gardener, named Fraser, obtained seed from Madrid 

 which produced orange flowers, (probably seedlings from Dahlia coccinea.) 

 In the autumn of 1803, Dahlia rosea flowered in England. In 1804 

 a paper was published in the " Annales d'Histoire Naturelle," by M. 

 Thouin, in which he suggests propagation by division of the roots, and al- 

 lowing them to rest during the winter, growing the roots in rich soil during 

 the summer. 



In 1804, Lady Holland sent seeds of Dahlia variabilis and Dahlia rosea 

 and coccinea from Madrid to England. These were sown in hotbeds, and 

 a few flowers were produced ; these, by much care and nursing, ripened a 

 few seeds in 1805 (the first ever produced in England), which produced 

 plants the next year. All the experiments thus far had been made in the 

 greenhouse. In 1807 Dahlias were first grown in the open ground. About 

 this time an attempt was made to change the name from Dahlia to Georgina. 

 About 1808 it was cultivated around Paris, and fine seedlings raised. Fine 

 varieties were raised in Berlin soon after ; and in 1814 there were many 

 fine double flowers in cultivation, and since that time the plant has been 

 successfully cultivated in England. We are unable to state at what time 

 this plant was introduced to our gardens, but till after the year 1830 it was 

 not grown to any extent, if an inhabitant of our gardens. 



Every florist has been at some period attacked by the Dahlia fever, and 

 the plant has in the past been a great favorite. It must, from its many de- 

 sirable qualities, always be popular, though at the present time it seems to 

 be a little out of favor. 



