THE ORIGIN OF THE FLORIST'S DAHLIA. 



11 



dry and warm season, but the circumstances do not arise to 

 convert it into actuality. 



The beginning of the doubling process is amusingly illus- 

 trated in a Dahlia shown in the present exhibition by Messrs. 

 Harkness & Son, of Bedale, Yorkshire. It is classed with the 

 single flowers, and its name is " John Burns." It is, however, 

 not properly a single flower, for it presents two or three rows of 

 florets in the ray, and these of necessity encroach on the disk 

 and mark the commencement of the sterilising process concur- 

 rently with the advance of the flower towards floral perfection. 



If it be again asked, as it has been a thousand times already, 

 whether the doubling of flowers is a sign of an augmentation or 

 a diminution of inherent vigour, I reply that it is neither ; it is a 

 sign only that the flower is adapting itself to changed conditions, 

 for while there is less seed production, and consequently less con- 

 sumption of material to that end, there is increased consumption 

 in respect of the outward adornments ; and often the total of 

 flowers produced is far greater in the double than in the single 

 varieties. But in considering this question we encounter some- 

 thing that may be fancifully likened to an exercise of reason in 

 plants. We find that in nearly the same proportion that man 

 takes care of them they cease to take care of themselves. Discover- 

 ing that the race will now be perpetuated through the arts of their 

 human admirers, they yield to the persuasions of vanity, deck 

 themselves more gaily, give up all notions of family cares, and, 

 as true aristocrats, devote themselves to mere display and the 

 advertising of their superiority. The explanation is almost too 

 simple to be worth attempting, but to complete this paragraph I 

 may remark that men preserve and find means to multiply the 

 flowers that please them. And if double flowers find favour, the 

 process of doubling will be encouraged, and it follows that 

 sterilisation is one of the veritable results of prevailing tastes 

 in the flower-garden. But nature after all is never entirely 

 thwarted, and so it happens that from all our finest flowers, 

 whether Dahlias, Hollyhocks, Carnations, Pelargoniums, or 

 Chrysanthemums, to obtain seed is always possible, and the 

 problem for the practical man is to know how to do it. 



It is not an easy matter to convey an idea of the capability 

 of the Dahlia for variation. The Mexican gardens have given 

 us many of the most diverse and distinctive forms, and the 



