113 



DOUBLE DAHLIA, OR GEORGINA, 



Tills magnificent plant bids fair to rival in splendor and in diversity 

 the far famed Tulip and the Rose. Many of t..e varieties are incon- 

 ceivably beautiful and interesting, and there seems ^ never ending vari- 

 ation of color and form. 



The numerous varieties combine the i ichest shades and most varied 

 hues of which nature is susceptible, with every diversity in shape and 

 magnitude, from the size of a small globe an inch and a half in diame- 

 ter, to an expanded disk twenty-four inched in circumference ! Most 

 persons are not aware how simple are the means necessary to their pre- 

 servation during winter. When the frost has d'^stroyed the foliage, no- 

 thing more is required than to cut off the stalks two or three inches 

 from the ground, and to take up the roots and put them in boxes of dry 

 sand in a cellar, or any other place free from frost, there to remain till 

 spring without further care. Indeed the proprietors have for the two 

 past winters kept their stock quite dry and without sand. 



The collection here offered is unrivalled in extent and beauty, and 

 combines the most magnificent varieties of each class ; it being a con- 

 centration of the most choice and interesting that could be selected from 

 the principal establishments of Europe. The inferior kinds have been 

 rejected, and it will be perceived that the catalogue is particularly rich 

 in the splendid Variegated, Striped, Mottled, and Shaded varieties and 

 others of the first class and most vivid and brilliant colors. 



In addition to the usual course of obtaining the newest kinds offered 

 for sale in the catalogues of foreign Florists, the proprietors have made 

 arrangements with seveial amateurs abroad to furnish them with their 

 most interesting varieties previous to their *' coming ouV^ in Europe , 

 and it is to this arrangement that they are indebted for a large number 

 of the very splendid varieties comprised in their catalogues of the last 

 and the present year, although obtainable no where else in our country. 

 The present collection may with justice therefore be said to constitute 

 the acme to which this favorite flower has yet attained. Other new va- 

 rieties are continually accumulating, and Supplementary Catalogues 

 containing the additional kinds will be published in March and Oc- 

 tober of each year. 



A specimen bed comprising a thousand plants, has been planted ex- 

 pressly for the inspection of amateurs, which will be extended annually 

 by additions of all the most choice new varieties that foreign countries 

 and our own may present, thereby affording ample facility for personal 

 examination and selection, to those who desire it. 



A large stock will be constantly under culture in pots, so as to be 

 ready for transportation at any period desired, and more than 10,000 

 plants will be ready for delivery on the first of October of the present 

 year (1833.) 



It may be asserted without fear of contradiction, that at no period 

 since the era of the famed Tulipo-mania, has the attention of the vo- 

 taries of Flora been so universally devoted to any flower as it now is to 

 the Dahlia, the *' Glory of the Autumn." To the varieties first culti- 

 vated the objection was justly made that the expansion of their flowers 

 commenced too late in the season to merit much estimation, but culture 

 and judicious propagation have removed this difficulty as regards the new 

 Tarieties. These commence blooming the middle of June, and continue 



