THE DAHLIA 213 



goes ahead with the most refreshing vigour. This is one thing 

 about the Dahlia which growers of it like. They derive an 

 immediate reflex glory from it. They see it extending healthily 

 from day to day, and their hearts warm to it. They are able to 

 point the bed of Dahlias out to their friends with pride and 

 satisfaction. There is something to see about it. A collection 

 of Dahlias is like a family of sturdy, ruddy children. It stimu- 

 lates the instincts of parenthood. 



A second strong point about the Dahlia is its great array of 

 bright and cheerful colours. Robust in everything, it is not least 

 so in its tints. Here is a vivid scarlet, here a brilliant carmine 

 or a rich crimson, here again a pure white, a clear yellow, a deli- 

 cate blush, a bright rose. Blue we do not find, but maroon we 

 do. All are not Selfs. Some are bicolors, and there is a section 

 with flaked flowers, the markings of which are both singular and 

 pleasing. 



Already we see that the Dahlia is quite a John Bull type of 

 plant, with its sturdy vigour, its bluff directness, its pushful 

 pertinacity. But there are more things than these in its favour. 

 Its flowers fall naturally into harmonious forms. They mould 

 themselves on true lines. The florets unfold, not in a confused 

 mass, but in an ordered series, one overlapping the other, so that 

 the finished flower has perfect contour. 



It was the large size, admirable symmetry, and clear colouring 

 of the Dahlia which led to its acceptance as a "florist's flower." 

 A coterie of growers specialised it. They formed a Dahlia society. 

 It was useless, after that, for the critics of the Dahlia (and they 

 have always been both persistent and numerous) to attempt to 

 overthrow it. "Lumpy" it might be; scentless it certainly was. 

 No matter, it was enthroned as a " florist's flower " ; and although 

 it might, nay must, pass through vicissitudes, it was as stable as 

 the dynasty itself. 



The specialists unfurled their flag over the double Dahlia, 



