330 
DAHLIA SHOWING. 
delicate nature ; the flowers are white, in loose 
terminal corymbs, and are produced in July. 
It is found in the sandy woods from Carolina 
to Florida. 
Ceanothus ovatus (the ovate-leaved 
Red-root) is a deciduous shrub, attaining from 
two to four feet in height ; the leaves are 
ovate and serrated, and the flowers white, 
produced in June and Jul}'. It is from North 
America. 
Ceanothus sanguineus (the blood-red 
branched Red-root) is found near the Rocky 
Mountains on the shores of the Missouri ; it 
is a deciduous shrub, from two to three feet 
high, with oblong -ovate serrated leaves and 
white flowers, in panicles not longer than the 
leaves, produced in May and June. Its 
branches are of a blood-red or purple colour. 
Ceanothus takdiflorus (the late flower- 
ing Red-root) has cordate-ovate, serrated 
leaves. It is a deciduous shrub, of three or four 
feet in height, introduced from North America; 
and is very closely allied to C. americanus. 
Its flowers are white, produced in September. 
Ceanothus thyksiflorus, (the thyrse- 
flowered Redr-oot,) a very beautiful species, 
is not happily named, as they all produce their 
flowers in the peculiar arrangement which, in 
botanical language, is called a thyrse, and of 
which the common lilac and privet furnish 
familiar examples. It is a free growing ever- 
green shrub in its native country, North 
America, attaining the size of a small tree. 
The leaves are rather small, of an ovate figure 
and glossy, and the flowers are light blue, in 
large panicles, or thyrses : they are very freely 
produced ; indeed the native plant produces 
blossom so freely, as almost to envelope the 
trees, and this disposition seems to be mani- 
fested by the cultivated plants. It is, however, 
not sufficiently established in this country to 
exhibit its true character. 
Ceanothus velutinus (the velvety Red- 
root) is a robust growing plant, not yet in- 
troduced. It is a very beautiful evergreen 
species, growing from six to eight feet high, 
with large, broad, obtuse (sometimes sub-cor- 
date) leaves, and terminal panicles of white 
flowers. It is found on the sub-alpine hills 
near the source of the Columbia. 
The evergreen species of this genus are 
exceedingly handsome plants, and well deserv- 
ing of extensive cultivation. They will grow 
to the utmost perfection in a compost of peat 
and loam, in any situation where the subsoil 
is duly drained. It has already been remarked 
that C azureus, is barely hardy, and there- 
fore requires some such protection, as being 
planted against a wall : it is of little conse- 
quence what aspect the wall might bear, 
provided it was not north ; and even this 
would only have the effect of throwing the 
plant later in its season of blooming. "Whenever 
it is introduced to such a situation, the soil 
should be prepared for it, by putting in a good 
and permanent drainage a little below the 
ordinary level, and then on this placing two 
feet or so of the prepared compost of turfy 
loam and peat, to plant in. The plant should 
be placed six or eight inches from the wall, 
so as to allow for the increase of size in the 
stem ; and the roots should be carefully spread 
out in radiating lines from the plant, near 
the surface, and carefully covered in with 
the soil : the stem of the plant, at the point 
whence the main roots issue, should be nearly 
level with — say half an inch below — the 
surface of the soil. These little matters — rou- 
tine matters indeed in the practical gardener's 
art — are necessary in order that the plants, 
while they make proper and sufficiently vigor- 
ous growth, may not from any cause produce 
shoots, which will be liable to be immature 
when the winter season arrives: in other words, 
the object of these arrangements is to pro- 
cure healthy and well-ripened shoots, rather 
than vigorous ones ; such shoots being much 
more likely to withstand, without injury, the 
inclemency of our winters. And as was before 
remarked, they are with gardeners matters of 
routine, practised with this special object in 
view. 
The same remarks apply to the act of plant- 
ing any other choice plants which are required 
to bear the winter's cold and moisture. 
The other species grow in any tolerably 
good garden soil, though a preparation by the 
addition of compost, such as that above re- 
ferred to, is an improvement not lost on the 
plants. The species generally prefer a situa- 
tion rather dry than otherwise ; in fact, none 
of them affect particularly moist situations. 
Generally speaking, however, gardens which 
are drained sufficiently for the purpose of a 
garden, will not refuse to grow such shrubs as 
these : and these little peculiarities are named, 
merely that when any trouble or preparation 
is made, it may be done in a right direction. 
All the species may be propagated by layer- 
ing in a light soil ; and also by cuttings planted 
in sandy soil under a hand-glass. 
DAHLIA SHOWING. 
Notwithstanding exhibitors have the ad- 
vantage of plainer directions than the showers 
of almost any other subject, they pay so little 
attention to the main points, that they give 
endless trouble to the judges who have to 
estimate the comparative merits of stands ; 
because the best-grown flowers are generally 
the most deficient in some essential points, 
and lose all the benefit of superior culture 
through the growers' inferior taste. As this 
