Plate 244 
CLABKIA INTEGBIPETALA, flore pleno. 
It is very interesting to mark the improvement that takes 
place from time to time in various classes of plants, where 
either careful selection or skilful hybridization has been 
adopted. Amongst other dowers, annuals have not been un¬ 
cared for, and we are perhaps most indebted to the Messrs. 
Carter, of Holborn, for the great improvement that has taken 
place in them. 
Some two or three years ago we figured the double-flowered 
ClarJcia pulchella , which w r e then described as of a deep-rosy 
colour, and having three or four rows of petals, forming a 
tolerably well developed double flower. Previous to that they 
had introduced ClarJcia integripetala , so called from the petals 
not being deeply notched, as in the ordinary varieties then in 
growth. It is from a sport from this variety that the flower we 
now figure has been raised, and should it come constant in 
character there is no doubt, we think, that it will be the finest 
of all the tribe of ClarJdas. We know, indeed, that very often 
this is not the case with such flowers, and unless great care is 
taken in the saving of seed they are apt to become very infe¬ 
rior, and it is to this want of care that a great deal of failure is 
to be attributed. It is always better to save a small quantity 
of good seed than a large quantity of inferior, and if those 
plants are marked where better flowers are produced, or indeed 
the individual flowers themselves marked, a great deal of dis¬ 
appointment w 7 ill be saved. It is by such careful selection that 
many of our most valuable productions have been obtained, and 
it is surely worth w 7 hile to use the same care where ornament 
is concerned. 
The description given by the Messrs. Carter of their new 
