CULTURE OF FLORIST FLOWERS. 



ART. 7. Descriptive List of Evergreen Shrubs. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Culture of Florist Flowers. 



ART. 1. On the Culture of the Dahlia. . 



THE botanical name Dahlia, was given to this genus of 

 plants in honor of Dahl, a Swedish botanist, by Cavanilles, a 

 Spanish botanist, and " is, (says Paxton,) a native of the high 

 sandy plains of Mexico, where it was first discovered by that 

 eminent and indefatigable botanist, Humboldt, five thousand 

 feet above the level of the sea, but in what year we have no 

 authentic accounts. There are three distinct species of this 

 genus : D. coccinea, D. Cervantesii, and D. variabilis; of 

 which the two former are not now cultivated, as they do not 

 readily sport into varieties, and are much less beautiful than 

 D. variabilis, from which latter all the innumerable varieties 

 at the present time known to our collections have emanated." 



