On Gardeners' Flowers 



flowers. But mark particularly how the 

 Iris differs from a double blossom, how 

 much more preciseness of aim there is in 

 the parts, a few grandly managed elements 

 most carefully individualised, and how 

 comparatively slight is the tendency to 

 repetition. In the double flower, on the 

 contrary, we are struck by the comparative 

 feebleness of plan. There is constant 

 repetition, the petals crowded together 

 numberless, and with far less care for the 

 individuals, which in many cases melt up 

 into almost shapeless confusion, and can 

 only be looked at in the mass, as in the 

 double Tulip and Hollyhock. This marks, 

 of course, a certain deterioration of char- 

 acter. Whenever, on the contrary, the 

 parts are more cared for, they begin to 

 give a look of stiffness, because there are 

 too many of a similar kind. The Carnation 

 and Dahlia, for instance, have much the 

 effect of patterns. 



Note 8 



As the result of that wish for large 

 size which every gardener approves, we 

 find that highly cultivated flowers are apt 

 to have a look of weakness. The plant 

 impresses us as soft, loose, nerveless, 



i8i 



