16 
THE LADY S MAGAZINE OF GARDENING. 
calculated to surprise than to please. At first sight, we may admire the 
brilliant colours of a collection of Dahlias, but when these are repeated 
over and over again, the eye of the amateur becomes weary of the repeti¬ 
tion of the same form, and he turns away to “ metal more attractive/’ 
A man must indeed be a florist to understand the full perfection of florists’ 
flowers ; for their beauty, like the Canadian’s French, is a different sort of 
beauty to that generally acknowledged and admired by all the world. 
Even when the objects to be aimed at are thoroughly understood, an 
amateur has little chance of success, when he enters into competition with 
professed florists; and consequently, we read the same names as the 
gainers of prizes over and over again in the newspaper accounts of provin¬ 
cial flower-shows, from one end of the kingdom to the other. To grow 
florists’ flowers well, a man must devote his whole energies to the pursuit, 
and, unfortunately, so many tricks are practised, and so many difficulties 
lie in the way of the fair trader, that, like Lady Townly when she could 
hardly help swearing at the gaming-table, we find it very difficult to keep 
ourselves better than our neighbours. 
I say nothing of the spirit of gambling which these contests engender, 
or of the bad feelings likely to be excited by want of success, or of the 
envy, hatred, and jealousy which the losing competitor is likely to feel 
towards his successful rivals; as these are obvious enough, and as it is 
hardly possible for any competition to exist without them. My aim has 
been to expose the folly of those amateurs who waste their time and money 
in a vain attempt to excel where they have very little chance of success. 
It is needless, however, to pursue the subject farther, as the unfair practices 
before alluded to will do more to disgust the public with Dahlias, than 
anything that can be written against them ; and in a few years, probably, 
the Dahlia mania, like the mania of the prize ring, will be destroyed by 
the very persons whose greatest interest it was to support it, but who 
unfortunately forgot the old but useful adage—-that honesty is the best 
policy. 
Hammersmith, 
Bee . 16, 1840. 
THE HISTORY OF THE CHINESE CHRYSANTHEMUM. 
BY THE EDITOR. 
The first account we have of these beautiful flowers is contained in 
Rheede’s Hortus Indicus Malabaricus , published in 1678; but in this 
work only one kind is described, which had flowers of a greenish ash- 
colour, and was grown in very sandy places. A more ample and much 
more interesting account of these plants is given in Kmmpfer’s Amoenitates 
