On Gardeners' Flowers 



to the simple one, just for that one quality 

 of bigness and plumpness. In the same 

 way, most vulgar people admire great red- 

 faced women, and judge of the beauty of 

 prize pigs and oxen by their size. 



There is the double Snowdrop — on the 

 whole, I should think, the most ungainly 

 flower we have. All the characteristic 

 beauty of the Snowdrop, the delicate cur- 

 vatures of the petals, the contrast betwixt 

 the light, thin, flexible outer petals, and 

 the inner, short, stout, unyielding cup, 

 have wholly disappeared, in order that 

 that light graceful form may be stuffed 

 out as you would stuff a pillow-case, with 

 a bunch of strips arranged like a pen- 

 wiper. The gain here is positively 

 nothing, for fulness in the Snowdrop is 

 a real deformity. Yet the common people 

 often say they would not give a straw for 

 Snowdrops if they are not double ones. 

 There are many other double flowers 

 which are utterly bad, without any re- 

 deeming quality, such as double Violets, 

 Narcissuses, Tulips, and Nasturtiums. 



Lastly in double flowers how the shape 

 of the petals is destroyed ! There is natu- 

 rally a wide difference in form between 

 the petals of a Saxifrage and those of a 

 Cruciferous plant. Look, for instance, at 

 151 



