May.~\ CHARACTER OF A FINE DAHLIA. 107 



Highland Chief, orange scarlet, tipped white. 



Nepaulese Chief, crimson, marbled and spotted. 



Miss Ward, yellow, tipped white. 



Miss Compton, red, tipped white. 



Mrs. Hansard, yellow, frequently white tipped. 



Mrs. Shaw Lefevre, crimson, tipped white. 



Miss Weyland, pink, tipped white. 



Mrs. Willis, crimson, tipped white. 



Phaeton, peach colour, tipped white. 



Pretty Polly, salmon, tipped white. 



Princess Charlotte, pale purple, tipped white. 



Queen of Beauties, white, marbled with lavender. 



Rachael, crimson, tipped white. 



Roi de Pointz, crimson, tipped white. 



The above are the choicest in cultivation at the present 

 time, and for farther description in regard to colour, height, 

 and price, we beg to refer our readers to the periodical cata- 

 logues of our respectable nurserymen that are issued every 

 spring, and contain many other sorts of eminence ; and not 

 a few equally desirable with the above, though the descrip- 

 tions of some that are annually received from England are 

 more tempting than the article. Whether there are some 

 sorts that do produce more perfect and beautiful flowers in 

 their humid climate than they do when transferred to ours, 

 we cannot practically decide, but presume that it is the fact, 

 for we are confident, and every season does more fully con- 

 firm it, that the seedlings grown in this country from seed 

 sowed here do grow better, and flower finer, than the gene- 

 rality of those imported ; and, to prevent us adopting inferior 

 sorts, and giving them dashing names, we subjoin the follow- 

 ing rules for judging : 



CHARACTER OF A FINE DAHLIA. 



" The best judges distinguish Dahlias by the three criteria 

 of form, colour, and size. 



"1. Form. The front view of the blossom should be 

 perfectly circular, without notches or inequalities, caus>d by 

 the petals being pointed, and not, as they should be, rounded ', 

 smooth at the ( iges, and slightly concave, but not so much 



