10 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



exist — will be so crowded with prolonged florets as to be incap- 

 able of expanding symmetrically, and we come near to this in 

 what are called hard-eyed flowers, in which the central florets 

 are so closely packed and crowded that the outer parts of the 

 flower become aged ere the central parts are matured. And 

 another consequence of perfection, or even any near approach to 

 it, is complete sterility. As the production of new varieties is in 

 one sense at least the life of floriculture, the attainment of its 

 one great end, the perfect florist's flower, is accompanied with a 

 kind of death warrant for the extinction of the art itself. But the 

 dreadful doom is not impending ; the best flowers we possess are 

 far from perfect, and the occurrence of flowers with eyes, in other 

 words with a few central fertile florets, is sufficiently frequent to 

 ensure, even from the named varieties of highest quality, a certain 

 amount of useful seed. 



A few dissections of show Dahlias will show that the Linnasan 

 name superflua is not altogether fanciful ; for although we have 

 in the double flower a rosette composed of ray florets, it will be 

 found that towards the centre of the flower many of these have 

 a kind of potentiality of fertility that accidents may promote to 

 the status of facts. Often the fertile florets form a dense ring 

 around the centre, and in a hot, dry season the reproductive 

 organs assert themselves, fertilisation takes place, and there is a 

 good harvest of seed. In days when I grew Dahlias it was the 

 practice with a few successful raisers to cut out the centres of 

 flowers from which it was desired to obtain seed. This relieved 

 the nutritive organs from the task of perfecting the central florets 

 and increased the opportunities of the fertile florets that remained, 

 thus accomplishing a saving of time as well as increasing the 

 probability of the production of seed. In cutting out, the basis 

 or receptacle should not be injured ; just enough of the central 

 florets should be removed to afford increased room for those next 

 adjoining them to expand and push upward their stamens, which 

 are on elastic filaments and have to push through the five-valved 

 membrane which opposes their outlet at the summit. "While the 

 flower is intact it is often so crowded, and the florets so pressed 

 together, that the stamens cannot rise, and hence much seed 

 that might be secured is lost, through neglect of the cutting out 

 to make room for these movements. As regards the original 

 potentiality, that may be the same in a cold and damp as in a 



