544 
THE PROGRESS OF FLORICULTURE. 
though probably they would have done so, had 
they passed through several generations by 
being i-aised from British seeds. 
" Is it not, then, worthy a trial, as we find 
that plants roAsed from suckers or cuttings do 
nut grow har-dier by time, and as the experi- 
ment on Zizania points out the road, to sow 
the seeds of these and such like tender shrubs 
as occasionally ripen tliem in this climate ? 
Fourteen generations, in the case of the 
Zizania, produced a complete habit of succeed- 
ing in this climate, but a considerable improve- 
ment in hardiness was evident much earlier." 
This is not quite so clear and intelligible as 
it was meant to be ; and while we agree with 
the author as to his conclusions, we deny that 
he has at all made out a case with regard to 
the Zizania ; for it grew and ripened seeds 
the first year, and it did no m.ore at the end 
of the fourteen. Sir Joseph Banks is an 
additional authority for our conclusion, that 
it is impossible to acclimatize plants ; and all 
the writers who assert the contrary, expose 
their ignorance of the science they profess to 
advance. Thei'e is only one course — the 
oriffinatino: new races from the seed. . 
THE PROGRESS OF FLORICULTURE. 
The progress of floriculture during the 
year 1848 has been greatly retarded by a 
number of circumstances that tend to lower 
the standard by which flowers are judged, and 
we can hardly imagine anything more likely 
to retrograde, than a continuance of that care- 
lessness of results, which has been manifested 
by those who take the kad in such matters. 
The circumstances to which we allude are, 
first, the abandonment of second-class prizes, 
the effect of which has been that judges have 
been obliged to reject gojod second-class flowers 
altogether, or give them first-class prizes, and 
have chosen the latter ; second, a carelessness 
in the appointment of judges at horticultural 
shows, by which the proper fate of many sub- 
jects submitted for exhibition has been re- 
versed ; third, an inordinate desire to put out 
a certain number of new subjects every sea- 
son, instead of confining the novelties to things 
really in advance of the present varieties ; 
fourth, a decided and persevering endeavour 
to counteract the prevalent disposition of the 
public to select flowers according to the pro- 
perties which are acknowledged by the best 
judges to constitute perfection. "We will ex- 
plain these causes in rotation. First, the 
abandonment of second-class prizes, which 
ought to have had the best possible effect, and 
was originally determined upon to raise the 
quality, has failed, only because the judges 
have not had nerve enough to carry out the 
object properly. The intention of those who 
abandoned second-class prizes was to discou- 
rage second-class flowers, and for a time the 
effect was good. The hopelessness of obtain- 
ing a prize deterred people from bringing 
them, and as the public sought only first-rate 
novelties, there was no sale for any other. 
We soon observed, however, that the raisers 
of flowers who happened to have nothing first- 
rate, and half-a-dozen or more very fair second- 
rate ones, were annoyed if they had no prize ; 
and, considering that it made fifty or a hun- 
dred pounds difference in the value of a flowei', 
it is not to be wondered at. Yet it was the 
only v/ay to keep up the high price of novel- 
ties. We foresaw that the instant the raisers 
could make head against the new movement, 
there would be a change, because the proper- 
ties that constitute perfection, and the ble- 
mishes which excluded a novelty, rendered 
first-class flowers few in number, and none 
others would sell. To lov/er the standard, 
then, was the only way to get over it, and this 
has unfortunately been done, though not nomi- 
nally. Among the means adopted to accom- 
plish this, the most powerful was a reduc- 
tion of the number of flowers required as a 
test. In dahlias there is no dependence the 
first year, consequently they are grown a 
second season to prove them; and as all raisers, 
when they grow them a second year, plant 
out twenty or thirty plants, it was considered 
by the leaders in the adverse movement that 
not less than six blooms should be exhibited. 
This alone was a great protection to the public, 
because, independently of any merit in the 
flower as to form, colour, and symmetry, there 
must be some chance of getting a flower when 
half-a-dozen are shown. In the struggle to 
advance on the part of the true florist, and to 
retrograde on the part of the less scrupulous 
dealers, the latter have for the moment got 
the upper hand, and last year the test applied 
to flowers, of which, as we have already said, 
few plant out less than thirty, was reduced to 
half the number. What was the consequence ? 
Why, that fifty varieties that could not have 
been exhibited at all while the test required 
six, were shown for prizes, and never will be 
shown again, by reason of their uncertainty, 
or, if shown, will give a bloom by accident ; 
for it must be conceded, that if six flowers 
cannot be produced from thirty well-grown 
plants at any part of the season, the uncer- 
tainty is too great to justify letting the va- 
riety out at all. In consequence, therefore, of 
only showing three blooms, fifty or more that 
would not yield half-a-dozen specimens, were 
not only produced to compete with the few 
that would, but actually obtained prizes. It 
was worthy of remark, too, that the prevail- 
ing fault was imperfection in the eye and 
