FLORICULTURE OF THE MONTH. 
153 
will have very few admirers. AVhen we con- 
sider that a well-authenticated novelty in 
dahlias has been known to realize 1500/. or 
say only 1000/., we very naturally regret any 
circumstance that should render a really good 
one less popular than it might be ; and vet we 
are told that such is the self-reliance of some 
dealers, that they, with the fullest confidence, 
guarantee a thing to be good, reject opinions 
that have been of service, find but half the 
orders they expected, and then wonder how it 
happens ; or set down the circumstance to a 
decline of the dahlia trade. All this is 
wrong : dealers may guarantee what they 
please, and put forth the most exalted charac- 
ters to their favourite flowers, but the public 
naturally turn back to their former catalogues 
and compare notes ; they find in these cata- 
logues certain flowers equally as much prized, 
equally guaranteed, quite as flatteringly de- 
scribed, and yet never w r orth half the money ; 
and they naturally say, " We want some 
better evidence of the goodness of a flower 
than the guarantee of the gentleman who has 
already guaranteed so many useless ones to 
be first-rate show flowers." We do not mean to 
say that any judgment is infallible, or that any 
flower can be thoroughly relied on ; and we 
have in our description in our annual list ab- 
stained from saying that a flower is first-class or 
first-rate, or all it ought to be, unless there were 
distinct points reconcileable to the opinion of 
impartial observers, and then Very seldom. 
We have described the flower as it was, going 
into the particular points, and hiding neither 
its faults nor its beauties. We do not deny 
that flowers have turned out uncertain ; 
Ave do know that flowers let out under names 
identified by us with many excellences, 
have turned out anything but what they 
ought, or what we described. In one or two 
cases we discovered that we have described, 
and given a favourable opinion of one flower, 
and have seen another one substituted for it ; 
this may have been a mistake, but we cannot 
think it likely. In our description of flow r ers 
this year we have conjured up no beauties 
that have not been manifest, nor have we 
described blemishes which were not very 
apparent ; hence, our descriptions have to be 
read as a guide, and each sentence weighed, 
and we strongly recommend everybody who 
intends to buy a few of the new dahlias, to 
throw all catalogue descriptions overboard, 
to look at the descriptive list in the Almanac 
for 1849, and make up their minds from those 
descriptions, for they will not deceive. If we 
say one flower is a splendid form, but small, 
they have to consider whether they value 
size or form ; if we say a flower has a splen- 
did petal, more coarse than we like, but, 
nevertheless, novel and beautiful, they may 
rest assured that coarseness is a real fault ; if 
we say that a flower lias a good petal, but 
large, and rather open, but that it is a fair 
fancy flower, they may safely conclude that 
large and rather open is no imaginary draw- 
back — it is a real fault ; but candour in a de- 
scription .serves a flower that has any merit at 
all, much more than the sweeping "warranted 
to be first-rate." This month will show us 
some auriculas, and we hear from Mr. Light- 
body of Falkirk, that James Dickson will 
have some northern novelties to show, worth 
looking at. We have no show near London of 
any consequence. The only place of exhibition 
where we are pretty sure of seeing some is 
the Surrey Gardens, and most likely, as the 
thing is reviving a little, the society at the 
Thatched House at Hammersmith may pro- 
duce a competition ; but we hope to see many 
new growers this forthcoming season. Good 
average verbenas have become very plentiful, 
but the great number of average merit spoils 
the sale of particular ones, and the growers 
hardly know how to choose. Certificates 
must now be given for nothing but really 
first-class things ; that is to say, varieties that 
beat those already out in their style or colour, 
or are equal to the best in form, and of a 
new colour. The Potentilla is likely to be- 
come a favourite, and being hardy, and a 
healthy perennial, it will be very popular ; 
some have been recently figured in the Cabi- 
net, which, if at all like the originals, show 
that there is a disposition to improve. The 
town has been inundated with camellias, 
which have been sold by auction at the price 
of weeds ; and nursery sales have been very 
plentiful, not so much as part of a system, as 
from obligation. That oppression which has 
overcome many tradesmen has hung threaten- 
ingly over the nursery trade, and there will 
yet be many sacrifices ; not that any one need 
attend a sale for bargains : they are to be had 
at nurseries that threatened to swallow the 
whole trade, at less than they cost ; and con- 
cerns that could do no good in regular trade, 
are doing mischief as they decline. The 
Great Northern Tulip Show is advertised to 
take place in May ; we shall have the par- 
ticulars, perhaps, by the 1st, but we believe 
there will be a great muster of cultivators on 
the occasion. Among the sources of con- 
gratulation for the florist, we may mention 
the alacrity with which members join a new 
Society, in which every member has to pledge 
himself, not only to act honestly and honour- 
ably in his own dealings and showings, but 
also to promote a like conduct in others, by 
exposing anything that is otherwise. Many 
gentlemen have declined exhibiting, only 
because they were obliged to show against 
dishonourable exhibitors ; instead of showing 
