138 
ON THE CULTURE OF THE ACIIIMENES. 
of its annual growth, which might afterwards 
be matured in a warm green-house, and would 
subsequently produce its lovely blossoms. 
THE DOUBLE SWEET WILLIAM. 
Of late years there have been many of this 
dwarf flower raised which proved double, or 
semi-double ; and some of them bave shown 
that a good deal may be done with it, even 
as a florists' flower ; the colours are very 
much diversified ; the flowers form a good 
truss ; the plant bears a large proportion of 
bloom, compared with the foliage, and most 
of the fundamental requisites for a general 
favourite already exist in the plant. It is a 
much more complete, though rougher subject, 
than the pink, for each individual bloom of 
the Sweet William is circular, though much 
serrated. What may be attained hereafter in 
the way of mules by crossing it with the pink, 
or whether any thing of an improvement 
could be produced by any of the pink proper- 
ties, have yet to be learned ; but if we could 
get rid of the serrated edge, which is not worse 
than the single pink used to be, and indeed is 
now, we should make a great advance. There 
are already some handsomely marked flowers 
worth perpetuating, and some persons already 
cultivate their favourite selections. I saw last 
season a few excellent double Sweet Williams at 
Hampton Court, in better order, and the plants 
more handsome, than if they had been raised 
from seed, and they had been propagated as 
pinks are propagated, from the side-shoots. 
There were some of the varieties which re- 
minded me of a double Indian Pink, they were 
nearly as large, and quite as handsome, but in 
the Sweet William we have a quality which 
I value much — the flowers come in large hand- 
some trusses, or heads, and might be shown in 
varieties the same as dahliahs, verbenas, and 
other subjects ; but this should not be allowed 
with seedlings. The encouragement should 
be given to double flowers only, or to single 
flowers only, and not to a mixture ; and the 
flowers should be valued more or less as they 
approach a given standard. I will take the 
present acknowledged standard of the pink, 
except as to the lacing, for a double one, and 
the verbena for the single one, because in a 
flower capable of so much,there should be great 
latitude for the markings, and I am not quite 
sure that this subject, coming in trusses, would 
be any thing behind many other florists' 
flowers; I think, too, it would have an ad- 
vantage which some other flowers do not 
possess, that of having both double and single 
varieties showable, for as yet I see no reason 
why the one should not be as perfect in its 
way as the other. The ordinary properties, 
however, which to a florist of taste may be 
considered settled as to leading principles, 
such as roundness, smoothness of edge, thick- 
ness of petal, and compactness of truss, will 
strike any body as being especially the points 
to look after in this matter; and with regard 
to the double ones, the regularity of the petals 
would be an additional point. I leave this 
subject to others, rather than say much more 
about properties myself. At all events, I 
wish those who are curious would begin to 
take pains with this flower in various ways. 
I would have them try all sorts of crosses, 
beginning with good showy kinds, and see 
what can be made of it by these means ; I 
would have others, when they meet with a 
good handsome variety, propagate it from 
cuttings or side- shoots, and save the seed from 
it. Let any one, from this time forth, take 
from his very best varieties the side-shoots, 
as soon as the plant is in bloom, and they are 
large enough, and give it a name. It has 
been hitherto prized more or less as it ap- 
proached a deep scarlet and black, and I think 
it just possible that when any official publica- 
tion of necessary properties shall appear, I may 
find it decided that clear fine selfs shall be 
placed at the head of the list ; for on looking 
to most of them, there is a speckly surface, 
even to dark ones, as if dust were sprinkled 
evenly all over the flower. As, however, size 
cannot be left out of sight, on this occasion, I 
think I may safely recommend those who in- 
tend to commence growing them to choose in 
the first instance for size, because we must 
get them out of their present limited sphere. 
I feel quite confident that the Sweet William 
may be got fine enough to rank with florists' 
flowers ; and having awakened a few indus- 
trious florists to the importance of the subject, 
I shall leave it in your hands, hoping to 
see in the Horticultural Magazine a proper 
set of regulations for the judgment of persons 
who are to estimate the value of novelties, 
because it is of the highest importance that at 
the very commencement people should know 
what to keep, and what to throw away, that 
no time may be lost in the first few seasons 
by valuing the wrong kind, or by the dif- 
ferences of opinion which, without some early 
guide, are sure to arise among the cultivators, 
each of whom will be for maintaining that any 
peculiarity in his own flower is a valuable 
property. Z. 
ON THE CULTURE OF THE ACHIMENES. 
" Who loves a garden loves a green-house too — 
Unconscious of a less propitious clime, 
There blooms exotic beauty, warm and snug, 
While the winds whistle and the snows descend." 
COWPER. 
All lovers and cultivators of flowers must 
hail with delight the introduction of a new 
