THE 



AMERICAN 



GARDENER'S MAGAZINE. 



FEBRUAP».Y, 1836. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. Observations on the Dahlia its Species and Varieties. 

 By John Lewis Russell, Professor of Botany and Vege- 

 table Physiology to the Mass. Hort. Soc. 



The surpassing beauty and brilliancy of the dahlia has 

 raised it, in the estimation of the floral taste, whether con- 

 sidered in its single unadorned simplicity, or when brought to 

 the acme of perfection by the ingenious labors of the hor- 

 ticidturist. Scarcely unrivaled by the unique elegance of 

 the camellia, it has become, like that remarkably transmuted 

 plant, as universal a favorite among the curious and 

 wealthy; and still more a companion of the antique and ven- 

 erable accompaniments of the cottage garden or the village 

 flower-bed, of some humble admirer of nature's sportive 

 wonders, such as may be found in every communily, and 

 not by any means tew in our own, happy, smiling New 

 England. Perhaps the moral and mental improvement of a 

 people cannot be better estimated, surely not better promo- 

 ted, than in the observation and introduction of the spirit of 

 the love of the more elegant and refined occupations attend- 

 ant on agricultural pursuits. For my own part, I want no 

 better proof of a feeling and exquisitely sensible mind, even 

 under a rough and rude exterior, than may be observed in a 

 love of nature, particularly that which relates to the care of 

 flowers. A rose-bush, a honeysuckle, a pseony — famed in 

 village love for pharmaceutic worth — a lilac-bush, or even a 

 huge tuft of the singularly striped " ribbon grass," preserved 

 by some rustic enclosure from the trespass of those sober, 

 useful, though less intelligent, tenants of the farm-yard^ 



VOL. II. — NO. II. 1 



