THE DAHLIA. 189 



stood up as fresh and green as ever. 1 ought to have marked it 

 for preservation, but I put off doing so and the result was that it 

 was lost. This incident shows that a moderate degree of hardi- 

 ness raa}- be attained by the single process of selection among 

 seedlings ; perhaps by hybridization perfect hardiness may be 

 reached. 



We frequently hear and read discussions as to whether single 

 or double varieties are to be preferred ; but these two classes are 

 so very unlike each other that a comparison between them is 

 hardly possible. Both are desirable, — both are beautiful; each 

 in its own way. The large double dahlia is certainly heavy in 

 appearance, but it has a richness of color, a delicacy of shading, 

 and a perfection of construction that the singles cannot approach. 

 I marvel that any one can examine such a flower as Flamingo or 

 Sarah McMillan without admiration. The single dahlias are so 

 free in flowering, so cheerful and graceful as they stand in the 

 garden beds, that I wonder that any one should declare he will 

 have none of them. 



It is commonly expected that a paper of this kind shall finish 

 ■with a list of best varieties, and warned by a previous experience 

 I shall tr}' to meet this expectation. But first I will describe such 

 of the wild species as seem to need a word. Imperialis is a very 

 beautiful species, which, however, will never be much grown, 

 because it does not flower until Noveniber and then only on stalks 

 twelve or fifteen feet tall. Nothing can much exceed the beauty 

 of its clusters, however, consisting as they do of flowers grace- 

 fully drooping, white faintly flushed with pink, and with petals so 

 disposed that the flowers look more like lilies than dahlias. This 

 species is well worth growing for the beauty of its foliage, which 

 is much divided and arches out from the stem like some kinds of 

 aralia. Excelsa is another tree-like plant, coarser in foliage than 

 imperialis and also late flowering ; the blossoms are pink. 

 Merckii, called also glabrata, is a very dwarf species, not over a 

 foot and a half high. In no respect does it resemble the other 

 species in appearance. The foliage is shiny and very finel}' cut, 

 and the blossoms much resemble the coreopsis in size, shape, and 

 length of stalk. The colors are white, pink, and purple with a 

 dark brown centre. The other species are much like the ordinary 

 •crimson and scarlet single varieties. 



