272 FLOWER GARDEN. 
2 
own, and cultivators occasionally raising at one sowing a 
dozen kinds which they think worthy of preservation. The 
results have. been most propitious to the flower garden, 
from which, indeed, the Dahlia could now nearly as ill be 
spared, as the potato from the kitchen garden. 
The varieties of Dahlia may be classed under tke follow- 
ing heads: 1. The Common or Camellia form, under- 
which the double sorts first appeared. This is by far the 
most numerous class, and perhaps the most beautiful. The 
dwarf sorts are in most repute. 2. The Anemone-flowered, 
having a radius of large petals, and a central disk of smaller 
ones, somewhat like the double anemone. 3. Globe-flow- 
ered, having small globular flowers, which are extremely 
double. They possess great intensity of color, and, rising 
for the most part about the leaves, make generally as 
striking an appearance as those of a more massive efflores- 
cence. 
In a fine Dahlia the flower should he fully double, always 
filling the centre; the florets should be entire or nearly so, 
-regular in their disposition, each series overlapping the 
other backwards: they may be either plain or quilled, but 
never distorted: if, instead of being reflexed, the florcts 
are recurved, the flower will be more symmetrical. The 
peduncles ought to be strong enough to keep the blossoms 
erect, and long enough to show the flowers above the leaves. 
Bright and deep velvety colors are most admired. 
Dahlia competitions now excite great interest in the 
floricultural world; almost every considerable town having 
its annual show, when gold and silver medals, cups, and 
other pieces of plate, are keenly contended for; private 
amateurs and professional cultivators competing respec- 
tively among themselves. Fine flowers have become so 
numerous that it were a hopeless task to offer a list. 
