DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF FLOWERS. 185 
model or show-flower. But since the Liliputian Dahlias 
have been cultivated, the precedence has been given to 
them by amateurs of good taste. The flowers vary in 
size from two to two and one-half inches in diameter, and 
some not much larger than a silver dollar. They are not 
too large for a bouquet of moderate size, while the old va- 
rieties are too ungainly for any, except for giant bouquets 
for tables in large halls. The flowers are compact and 
neat, sporting into the same variety of colors as in the 
large sorts. It is impossible to give a list of the most ap- 
proved varieties of this present time, in either class of 
Dahlias, that would be likely to give satisfaction a few 
years hence. Some of the fine new sorts soon run out. 
The nursery-men, who raise their stock of plants by cut- 
tings, take off a succession of sprouts, the last gr6wth of 
which is slender and weak; and the plants inherit the 
feebleness of the cuttings, and soon deteriorate, fail, and 
are heard of no more. 
Dahlias raised from Seed and the estimated value of 
Jine seedlings in 1836.—The following extract of a letter 
from Mr. Widnall, of England, (in January 1836), a 
celebrated cultivator of seedling Dahlias, whose object 
was to obtain fine varieties for sale, will be of some inter- 
est to Dahlia fanciers of the present time; showing the 
extent of the mania for this flower at that period, which 
may be termed the high-tide season of its popularity. 
After describing various fine new seedlings, he says :— 
“These are the very best seedlings, out of 30,000 plants, 
which covered more than three acres of ground, and I 
have about the same quantity of this year’s seedlings, 
none of which will be sent out before May, 1836. These 
seedlings, which I now offer to you, obtained prizes at 
every exhibitfon they have been shown at. I obtained in 
ten days last September for seedlings and named flowers, 
prizes to the amount of £107 ($535).” 
