252 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



FEBRUARY 13, ISrlO. 



FLORICU LTURE. 



CULTITATION OF DAHLIAS IN FRANCE. 



Scarcely any plant owes more to tlie care of the 

 horticulturist than the dahlia, as it is by extreme 

 care and perseverance united, that the numerous 

 varieties which we passess have beeu obtained. 

 Our French brethren seem to be of this opinion, 

 for the wVniirt/ej des Jardimers Amateurs thus re- 

 marks, in a late number, when speaking of sowing 

 fresh seed every year.— ion. Hoti. Jour. 



" It IS- tv; this annual care in putting down seeds, 

 *ii&t the rose trees, the camellias, the paeonia arbo- 

 rea, the rhododendrons, the azaleas, &.C., have taken 

 so large a jilace within the last thirty years. But 

 in the present day, those flowers which were the 

 admiration of our forefathers, such as the auricula, 

 the primrose, the hyacinlh, the tulip, the ranuncu- 

 lus, the anemones, the pink, &.C., would undoubt- 

 edly be dethroned by the plants imported at a later 

 period, without even e.xcepting the European rose 

 tree, were it not for tliose amateurs who have re- 

 mained failliful to them, and rendered them that 

 scientific assistance which has progressively made 

 them obtain a greater number of varieties, and im- 

 proved tliose varieties which our forefathers only 

 obtained by chance. It is, therefore, easy to e.x- 

 plain why in remote days one or two conquests 

 made here and there, amongst a great number, 

 caused so much noise, and at the same time why 

 the progress and improvement in plants marched at 

 80 slow a pace. 



The piEonies and roses i)articularly remained for 

 centuries in the gardens of our forefathers, even 

 before they ever thought of propagating them by 

 seed. It was necessary for Linnjeus, who was the 

 first to clearly explain the generation of plants, to 

 instil at the same time the necessity of applyim^ 

 the principles he laid down to flowers and domestic 

 shrubs. However, history infori^^s us that, centu- 

 ries before the immortal Linnaiur,," the Arabs, more 

 e.xporienced naturalists than the Europeans, were 

 perfectly aware that the fruits proceeded from the 

 fecundation of the (loners, and that they distin- 

 guished with the greatest intelligence the diflerent 

 sexes. A proof that they possessed this know- 

 ledge is seen in the fact that they used to destroy, 

 during their wars, the male plants, without which 

 the female plants (as in the palm-tree, where the 

 se.xes are separated by individuals) cnuld no longer 

 present, in their fructification, the food of which 

 it was their object to deprive their enemies. With- 

 out going so far back, it will be found that nearly 

 all the gardeners of Europe, in temperate climates, 

 where well aware that the melon, when they culti- 

 vated it in their gardens, presented, under the same 

 species, the male flowers and the female flowers 

 separated. At that time, and even now, many 

 persons pluck ort", aa false flowers, those without 

 which the good flowers, as they called the others, 

 could not leceive vitality for their produce, and 

 consequently could give no melons. 



In our fields (of France) it is well known, from 

 time immemorial, that flax, like the palm-tree, has 

 the male completely distinct from the female ; and 

 notwithstanding the assistance which our country 

 has obtained in agricultural science, now widely 

 spread and protected, it is a most extraordinary fact 

 that the male plant passes for the female, and vice 

 versa. Notwithstanding that these facts were 

 known, neither agriculture nor horticulture, both of 

 which are very backward in the greater part of our 



provinces, drew any important advantages from the 

 marriage of plants, until the lucky attempts of mod- 

 ern days. 



It is in consequence of science having made more ] 

 rapid progress in Holland, Belgium, and above all j 

 in England, under the eflective protection of the ! 

 government and of rich private individuals, that we \ 

 are at this present day, tributaries to these foreign ' 

 countries for our finest fancy plants. | 



It is only within the last tliree or four years, af- 

 ter twentyfive years cultivation, that we have come 

 to the knowledge of what a fine dahlia is. For ! 

 one that we obtained almost by chance, our breth- 

 ren, the English horticulturists, with their artificial 

 fecundations, obtain hundreds. 



In the year which has just terminated, it is the 

 dahlias of England which obtained the greatest 

 honors among the plants of our n.ost distinguished 

 amateurs, and it is to them that we shall be obliired 

 to have recourse this autumn, to ensure the late 

 conquests in dahlias, as well as camelias, in which, 

 however, we hope to shine next year. 



If we are obliged to obtain from our neighbors 

 the most precious and remarkable dahlias, until 

 such time as we shall be able to equal them. Ictus 

 in the mean while strive to obtain the greatest ad- 

 vantage fro.m their fine plants, by crossing them 

 with our own. 



We have already stated that, to shine, it is not 

 sufficient for an amateur merely to collect the most 

 numerous varieties, nor even the finest kinds, no 

 more than it is sufficient to possess all the words of 

 a language in order to write with correctness and 

 elegance. The distribution of plants in the par- 

 terre also requires the utmost attention, and may 

 deserve admiration in many respects. It is there- 

 fore necessary that a bed should be well distributed 

 in all its parts, and that the plants should be select- 

 ed with taste, and placed at proper and suitable 

 distances ; first, according to their nature ; and, 

 secondly, according to the most perfect rules of 

 taste, as to their size, beauty of form, their colors 

 and foliage, and their rotation of bloom and flower. 



The celebrated Mehul, as harmonious a compo- 

 ser as he was a zealous horticulturist, compared 

 tastefully distributed flower beds, sometimes to the 

 delightful music of Mozart, at other times to the 

 impressive and classical poetry of the great Cor- 

 neille. Without rising so high, we compare the 

 distribution of a rich and well combined collection 

 of dahlias to the finest compositions of our most 

 brilliant writers ; whilst the plantations without 

 taste, and in mass, are like the mingled advertise- 

 ments of a newspaper. 



It was to avoid this bad taste in the plantations 

 that, last year, we endeavored more than ever to 

 notice and describe the finest varieties of dahlias. 

 To succeed better in this attempt we assorted the 

 flowers, placed them one by the side of the other, 

 whenever we could procure them. This method 

 we found to be the most rational plan for properly 

 marking out the position of each. 



Supposing that a collection was to be planted in 

 three rov/s, we should, as a matter of course, place 

 three or four feet distance between three parallel 

 lines; and four feet between each variety, which 

 we should plant in quincunx.* 



In the first line, or that nearest to the walk, we 



should plant the dwarf dahlias, that is to say, those 

 of two or three feet, and we should take care tc 

 alternate those of two feet with those of three, BO 

 as more effectually to indent the line of the sum- 

 mits of the plants. We should also choose, inde- 

 pendently of the heights of the stalks, the diflferent 

 varieties whose flowers, within a few lines, offered 

 the same diameter; we should then place these 

 varieties so as to separate them from other plants, 

 whose color, and even forms, would agree too nearly 

 with those of their neighbors, either on the side or 

 rear, so that the eye should not be shocked with 

 the monotony of too many similar plants in the 

 same line. 



If we were not rich enough in varieties to form 

 this first line, with plants in flower of nearly the 

 same diameter, we should commence this row go 

 that the various sizes were in gradation from the 

 commencement to the centre, where should be the 

 highest flowers, the others then diminishing to the 

 end of each line at the other e.xtremity ; from which 

 would follow that from the two extremities to the 

 centre, the flowers would present themselves grad- 

 ually rising ; and on the same principle we should 

 plant in the second line the dahlias of three feet 

 and a half to four or five feet, and in the third row 

 the dahlias of five feet and a half to six feet. 



By this arrangement of a bed into three stages, 

 the flower of each individual is set off" by its neigh- 

 bor, both from tlie opposition of the forms, aa well 

 as the contrast of the colors. In a second bed ol 

 two lines we would place such dahlias as were re- 

 markable for fine flowers, but which could not find 

 a place in the other arrangement, either because 

 their colors had been seen before, or because their 

 height rendered them ineligible. An excellent 

 horticulturist, M. Lernire, puts down such plants 

 in large squares or circles, the tallest in the centre, j 

 and the others graduated according to tlieir size. 

 A noble centre for one of these beds would be the ! 

 ' Duke of Bedford,' from six to seven feet high, 

 with a diameter of six inches, and a chesnut purple 

 color of rich velvet. Flowers, witli exceedingly 

 large flowers, might be placed in triangle, or a 

 quarter of a circle. Large plants should stand at 

 the angles, as well as in the centre. But, whether 

 the plants are placed in triangles, or squares, or 

 oblongs, or half rounds, or any other shape, we 

 hold it requisite to place on the same line flowers 

 of the same diameter (alternating them only when 

 the general effect will be thereby increased,] 

 and to vary or contrast the colors as much as pos- 

 sible." . 



* This arrangement causes tha plants to give the ap- 



f>earance of four pips and a centre one, like the five of 

 icarts in a pack ot cards. This appearance is seen from 

 whatever side the collection is viewed. 



(From the Magazine of Horlicullure.) I 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE CAULI-i 

 FLOWER. \ 



Your Magazine having, by this time, an exten-j 

 sive circulation through the diflferent states in the I 

 Union, it is not (in my humble opinion) unieasona- 

 ble to suppose, that, through the perusal of its 

 pages, by j-oiir numerous subscribers a greater 

 amount of practical knowledge has been obtained, 

 of the most approved meihods of cultivating and 

 propagating rare and choice flowering plants, than 

 could, in any other way, have been so easily ac- 

 quired. 



I beg leave, therefore, to depart from the beaten 

 track, and oft'er you a few brief and practical re- 

 marks on the propagation and cultivation of the 

 cauliflower, which is not only a very curious flower 



