by the intermixture of distinct species. Calcio- 
laria, Rosa, Fuclisia, Potentilla, and Miraulus, im- 
mediately present themselves as examples. Fur- 
thermore we liave the testimony of him who stands 
at the liead of the rank of vegetable physiologists* 
that ‘"The most perfect and vigorous offspring will 
be obtained of plants as of animals, when tlie male 
and female parent are not closely related to each 
other.” That a completely new progeny of plants 
may be readily raised between the Dahlia variabilis 
and Barkeriae, there can be no doubt, but so imper- 
fect is our knowledge of the laws of hybridization, 
that a just estimate cannot be made of the value of 
such offspring; remembering, however, what our 
universally-cultivated Dahlia was when first intro- 
duced to England, and looking at the beauty of its 
present innumerable varieties, the prospect of im- 
provement is most encouraging. 
The zealous cultivator should never lose sight 
of the fact, which stands as it were on the fore- 
head of the very first communication made to the 
London Horticultural Society, by its late most ex- 
cellent president, Mr. Knight; he says “Nature has 
given to man the means of acquiring those things, 
which constitute the comforts and luxuries of civili- 
zed life, though not the things themselves ; it has 
placed the raw material within his reach ; but has 
left the preparation and improvement of it to his own 
skill and industry. Every plant and animal adapt- 
ed to his service, is made susceptible of endless 
changes, and, as Air as relates to his use, of almost 
endless improvement.” Culture, exactly the same 
as the common Dahlia. 
* Knight : in Hort. Trans, v. 1, 166. 
