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tainly no such colour has yet been found in the petals 

 of the thousands of seedlings annually bloomed. 



We subjoin a list of dahlias, both show flowers, 

 and those known as fancy varieties, which are the 

 best out up to the present time, both for showing, 

 and the flower border. An asterisk denotes those 

 with long stout footstalks, which, with the fancy 

 kinds, are best adapted for grouping and bedding out. 



Fancy Varieties. — There is still much differ- 

 ence of opinion respecting what- really are fancy va- 

 rieties, for we find flowers in some catalogues of fancy 

 dahlias, which in others are described amongst the 

 ordinary varieties. Our definition is that, all varie- 

 ties with two or more colours may be termed fancy 

 dahlias ; especially if the edges or tips are of a colour 

 lighter than that of the chief surfaces of the petals. 

 To be a valuable flower in this class, there should be 

 great contrast, with an equal distribution of colour, 

 whether it be tipped, striped, margined, or spotted. 



It will be useful to note the following definitions 

 usually employed in describing dahlias. 



The appellation of florets should be applied in all 

 cases to what have been improperly called the petals ; 

 they are strictly, and especially in single flowers, the 

 florets of the ray ; when there is an allusion to the 

 short florets in the disk of the flowers, they are dis- 

 tinctly the florets of the disc. The term quilled, 

 in its strict sense, is applied to ligulate florets become 



