THE DAHLTA, AND ITS PROGRESS. 
13 
last on the list, chiefly on account of their 
colour, and having no particular redeeming 
point. With Mont Blanc, Canary, and Nell 
Gwynne may be placed Yellow Perfection, 
Sir Robert Peel, and Richard Cobden. It 
was, however, quite right to describe all these, 
because they have all been conspicuously 
shown, and many of them cried up too much 
for the price to be honest, and the public are 
glad of a fair and fearless opinion. But we 
should feel more inclined to take the growers' 
recommendation of things that have not been 
seen, than to come down too low in Mr. 
Glenny's scale. If he has not seen one-half 
that are to come out, there may be some good 
ones in the back-ground ; still there are 
enough among those described to do for mo- 
derate growers, and as such the almanack will, 
after all, be chiefly looked to for the direc- 
tions what to buy. Fancy flowers have, 
however, taken a fair start. Mrs. Shaw 
Lefevre is one of Mr. Glenny's pets, he 
expresses no doubt ; it is " dull red and 
white, but splendid form, and a great favou- 
rite." This is distinct then, and no mistake : 
Jenny Lind a second, Jeannie Deans a third, 
Belted Knight a fourth, Eliza Meilez a fifth, 
because it is lugged in by Mr. Glenny in a 
postscript; but we should depend on the sheet 
almanack more than the book, sjmply because 
it is published two months later. We have, 
however, seen several circulars, but the prin- 
cipal object of this paper is to show, that 
unless some one who can be depended on will 
give us fair descriptions, it is impossible to be 
at all prepared for the overwhelming lists of 
new subjects from which men of limited 
means have to select not more than half a 
dozen or a dozen ; but we positively assert, 
that among those Dahlias which the public 
have an opportunity of knowing, or of which 
they have been able to read anything to be 
depended upon, there is not one advance 
among the show sorts, unless it prove to be 
Delight ; the others are, according to the 
best authority, not first-rate. But the follow- 
ing may be had for their several qualifications. 
We may say, however, that the fancy kinds 
are advancing, for they are becoming of a good 
form. 
Delight, for its form and beauty. 
Shylock, for its constancy and high centre. 
Queen of England, for its rich colour and 
novelty. 
Gem, for its deep tip when in good order. 
Walter Hilson, for its brilliant orange. 
Lady Ashley, for its compactness. 
Fire King, for its dazzling orange-scarlet. 
War Eagle, for its deep red and con- 
stancy. 
Boule-de-feu, for its general usefulness. 
Attraction, for its rich colour and shade. 
Forest Flower, for its thick petals and 
dense lilac. 
Jane, for its usefulness as a light flower. 
And these may be taken almost in the order 
we have placed them. According to the number 
wanted, people may begin at the top, and 
come downwards. Then, as to fancy flowers, 
they appear to stand upon their merits equal 
up to five, and we would add a sixth : — 
Mrs. Shaw Lefevre, for exquisite form 
and distinctness. 
Jenny Lind, for richness of colour and gene- 
ral form. 
Jeannie Deans, for general form and new 
colour. 
Belted Knight, for novelty of colour and 
good form. 
Eliza Meilez, for its splendid form and 
rich colour. 
Lady Sale, we would add ourselves. 
We believe much good will result from the 
new Seedling Society encouraging the raisers 
of new varieties of every thing, for it will lead 
to the assembling of all classes of gardeners, 
and the consequent temptation of many to try 
upon fresh subjects. A market-gardener, for 
instance, who joins it for the sake of the new 
fruits and vegetables introduced, may be easily 
tempted to grow a few rods of seedling dah- 
lias, and a greater chance of producing novel- 
ties than many who have, year after year, 
been sowing seeds carelessly, and planting 
thousands with far less chance of striking 
novelty, than the new man who sows seed 
from a dozen first-rate kinds, and plants out 
only hundreds. At all events, there is nothing 
this year that can be called an advance. Mr. 
Glenny speaks of a new flower of the present 
season, of which only one bloom has been 
shown, " The Maid of Kent," and if there was 
the least dependence on its constancy, it might 
be a star, but we are in doubt about it. The 
make of the flower is similar to Princess Radzi- 
ville, and if it be one-half so certain, it will be 
a valuable addition. There is one variety this 
year, also, of which we can say but little, be- 
cause we have seen but little; we allude to 
Yellow Perfection ; we have only heard of 
two blooms being seen, one good, the other 
middling, and the flower is two years old, so 
that there ought to have been more ; a single 
plant ought, if at all certain, to have yielded 
four blooms for the Surrey Gardens, instead of 
one, because they are not all obliged to be 
perfect, and a good judge of a flower cannot 
be prejudiced by three of the four being out 
of condition. The one bloom, however, fully 
justified the name, it was a neat, compact, 
well-formed flower, and if it be at all con- 
stant, may become a great favourite. Any 
who buy it purchases a ticket in a lottery, 
that may come up a prize or a blank; if a 
