MODE OF OBTAmiNG DOUBLE FLOWERS. 501 



one of the richest and finest fruits of its species which we 

 possess. 



It may be expected that some mention should here be made 

 of double flowers, and of the manner in which they are to be 

 obtained. But I confess myself unable to discover, either in 

 the writings of physiologists, or in the experience of gardeners, 

 or in the nature of plants themselves, any sufficient clue to an 

 explanation of the causes to which their origin may be ascribed. 

 There are, however, several facts, apparently connected with 

 the subject, which deserve mention. 



A double flower, properly so called,* is one in which the 

 natural production of stamens or pistils is exchanged for petals, 

 or in which the number of the latter is augmented without any 

 disturbance of the former ; in other words, it is a case of the 

 loss, on the patt of a plant, of the power necessary to develope 

 its leaves in the state of sexual organs. But what causes that 

 loss of power we do not know. It can hardly be a want of 

 sufficient food in the soil ; for double flowers (the Narcissus, 

 for instance) become single in very poor soil. On the other 

 hand, it can scarcely be excessive vigour, for no one has ever 

 yet obtained a double flower by promoting the health or energy 

 of a species. 



On the contrary, the Freneh rely upon a debilitating process to pro- 

 cure double flowers, if we are to credit a writer in the Revue Horticole, 

 who expresses himself thus : — ^Every gardener who sows seed, wishes to 

 obtain plants with double flowers, so as to obtain blossoms which pro- 

 duce the greatest effect. Every double plant is a monstrous vegetable. 

 To produce this anomaly, we must attack the principle of its creation, 

 that is to say, the seed. This beiag granted, let us examine in what 

 way these seeds ought to be treated. If, after having gathered the 

 seeds of Malcolmia annua, or Ten-weeks Stock, we sow them imme- 

 diately afterwards, the greatest number of the seedlings will produce 

 single flowers, whilst, on the contrary, if we preserve these same seeds 

 for three or four years, and then sow them, we shall find double flowers 

 upon nearly aU the plants. To explain this phenomenon, we say that 



* What is called a DouWe Dahlia is misnamed ; and so are all so-called double 

 composite flowers. The appearance of doubling is caused in these plants by a mere 

 alteration of the florets of their disk into the form of florets of the ray, a very different 

 thing from double flowers, 



