Q JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



for synonyms Georgina super flua and Georgina variabilis. 

 The modest double purple flower there represented would con- 

 trast strangely with one of our huge show flowers of the present 

 day, but it displays in elementary form all the properties that 

 have been sought, and in some part attained, in the progressive 

 development of the florist's flower. The magnificent single 

 scarlet flower of Dahlia supcrflua figured in the Botanical 

 Begister of 1815 (plate 55 of the first volume of that work) 

 affords a pleasing illustration of its variability, and may with 

 advantage be compared with the Botanical Magazine figures of 

 the same thing by those who hold to the opinion that our 

 garden Dahlias represent several species fused into a new indi- 

 viduality by what is colloquially termed ''hybridisation." 



The progress of the Dahlia as a florist's flower from 1820 to 

 1850 — a run of thirty years — was marked by advance in every 

 desirable quality ; and with each decided gain in fulness, smooth- 

 ness, symmetry, and refinement of petal there was a corresponding 

 advance in popularity, so that the prices of new varieties not 

 unseldom ranged from twenty to thirty shillings for a plant. 

 The first volume of the "Dahlia Register," published in 1836, 

 contains advertisements of Dahlias, the prices of which range 

 from 3s. 6d. to 21s., the principal trade cultivators of that time 

 being Brown, of Slough ; Harris, of Upway ; Heale, of Calne ; 

 Saunders, of Jersey ; Wheeler, of Warminster ; and Glenny, of 

 Isle worth. A fair collection of that time would run to 3,000 

 varieties ; at all events Mr. Glenny reported that he had made 

 a selection from that number. In recent years Mr. Charles 

 Turner, of Slough, regularly advertised new Dahlias at 15s. 

 each. Referring to Mr. Cannell's last catalogue, I find that the 

 highest-priced Dahlia is the Cactus-flowered variety, Prince of 

 Wales, priced 4s., while the general average price of plants is 

 only a few shillings per dozen. 



From about 1850 the popularity of the flower declined to this 

 extent, that the exhibitions were fewer in number ; but there was 

 really no pause in the work of improvement, as a comparison 

 of the best varieties of successive years clearly shows. With 

 the establishment of the National Dahlia Society, in the year 

 1870, there came a decided and extensive revival, for all the 

 several classes of Dahlias were recognised as proper exhibition 

 subjects, and their properties were established on the broad 



