December 12, 1885* 
THE HARDENING WORLD. 
233 
Among the best sorts which appeared in 1840 were 
Argo, Beauty of the Plain, Countess of Pembroke, 
Defiance, Maresfield Rival, Nicholas Nickleby, Pickwick, 
and last, but not least, Bloomsbury, a bright scarlet, 
capable of being grown to a great size. In 1843 the 
best new sorts were Lady Antrobus, Lady St. Maur, 
Nonpareil, Bembrandt, Meteor, Champion of Essex, and 
the first really good white, Antagonist. The year 1845 
was productive of many fine flowers, among them was 
Beeswing, Antler, Fulwood Hero, Dazzle, Gloria Mundi, 
and Empress of Whites. Beeswing was a flower that 
attained to great popularity, and held its ground for many 
years, being at length beaten by Sir F. Bathurst, and 
again in the same class by Lord Palmerston and Bob 
Ridley. The leading sorts of 1846 were Princess Rad - 
zivile, Essex Triumph, Standard of Perfection, Marquis 
of Aylesbury, Marchioness of Cornwallis, Beauty of 
Sussex, Berryer, Springfield Rival, Admiral Stopford, 
and Beeswing. About that time the fancy varieties were 
beginning to attract some attention ; they were soon 
formed into a division of themselves, and this has 
continued until this day ; but of these, more anon. 
A great many new varieties were sent out in 1849, 
three of them maintained their character for a length 
Of time—one especially, viz., Mr. Silden, the other two 
Were Duke of Wellington and Fearless. That same 
year was sent out Empereur de Maroc, a fancy of great 
merit, maroon-tipped with white, a singularly attract¬ 
ive flower that was grown for many years ; though like 
other fancies of similar character, many of the flowers 
came self yellow. In 1852, going on a few years, the 
leading Dahlias were Sir R. Whittington, Annie Sal¬ 
ter, Dr. Frampton, Triumphant, Morning Star, Sir F. 
Thesiger, and Alice. The leading fancies were Glome 
de Kain, Laura Lavington, Flora Mclver, Nancy, and 
Kossuth. The leading flowers of 1853 were Sir J. 
Franklin, Plantaganet, Amazon, Bob, Lilac King, Robert 
Bruce, and Beauty of the Grove. Then going into 
1856 there were added Fanny Keynes, Pre-eminent, 
Rachel Rawlings, Annie, Sir C. Napier, Beauty of Slough, 
Admiral Dundas, and a few others of less note. From 
that time up to 1865—ten years later—a great many 
new varieties were introduced, but the best—that is 
those which maintained a position for any length of 
time were Lord Derby, Miss Hensliaw, Criterion, Bob 
Ridley, Baron Taunton, Delicata, Andrew Dodds, Lord 
Elcho, Donald Beaton, Princess of Prussia, and since 
then the progress made with the Dahlia may be said to 
be contemporary history, and it is not necessary to 
carry lists farther. 
How did the cultivated Dahlia originate 1 The third 
volume of the Transactions of the Royal Horticultural 
Society gives some interesting information. It is therein 
stated by Mr. W. Sabine that the merit of first care¬ 
fully attending to and cultivating the Dahlia belong ex¬ 
clusively to the continental gardeners ; for although we 
received them as soon as the French and Germans, yet, 
if not lost, they had nearly gone out of notice with us, 
whilst in France and Germany they had increased as 
much in numbers as in beauty ; and persons fond of 
gardening who visited the continent on the return of 
peace in 1814, were surprised with the splendour and 
varieties of the Dahlias in the foreign collections. In 
the winter of that year several roots were imported 
into this country, and since that period we have made 
up for former neglect. Such was the state of our col¬ 
lections in 1818, when Sabine contributed this infor¬ 
mation. The first to scientifically define the genus was 
Cavanilles, who named it in honour of Dahl, a Swedish 
botanist. Some objections were first made to this 
name, which has, however, become established. 
The Florist of 1849 contains the following infor¬ 
mation : —The Dahlias are natives of Mexico, where 
they were found by Baron Humboldt in sandy meadows 
in the province of Mecboacau, between Areo and 
Patzcuaro, at 4,800 ft. or 5,600 ft. above the level of the 
sea. From their native habitats they had been trans¬ 
ferred to the Botanical Gardens at Mexico, and thence 
to the Royal Gardens at Madrid, in which the then 
existing species, pinnata, rosea, and coqcinea flowered 
between the years 1789 and 1794. In 1802 plants of 
each of these were transferred from Madrid to the 
Jardin des Plantes at Paris. In May, 1804, seeds of the 
three kinds were sent from Madrid by Lady Holland 
to M. Buonaint, then the librarian at Holland House. 
From these seeds pinnata was raised, and flowered in 
the following September, and was figured in the Bota¬ 
nists' Repository. It proved to be a deep purple, stellated, 
single-flowered sort. In the succeeding year plants of 
rosea and coccinea also flowered at Holland House, 
from which nearly all the plants then in our gardens 
were obtained. The original introduction of the Dahlia, 
however, is ascribed to the Marchioness of Bute, who 
bought the firstspecies from Spain in 1789, butitis stated 
that this plant was soon afterwards lost. Mr. Fraser, of 
Chelsea, flowered coccinea in 1803, when it was figured 
in the Botanical Magazine. This plant was also lost. 
Mr. Fraser is said to have obtained it from France in 
1802 the same year in which it was introduced from 
Spain to the French gardens. In 1803, Mr. Woodford, 
of Vauxliall, flowered Cavanille’s rosea, which he had 
obtained from Paris, so that independently of the 
Marchioness of Bute’s plant in 1789, it seems that both 
species had flow T ered in this country before the seeds 
were transmitted to Lady Holland. From the above 
it will be seen that Madrid supplied both the French 
and English Gardens. 
The first three species were named by Cavanille, 
pinnata, rosea, and coccinea, but these being objec¬ 
tionable names they were afterwards changed ; pinnata 
has been called superflua, purpurea, Sambucifolia, and 
variabilis ; Rosea : splrondylifolia and lilaeina ; and 
Coccinea : frustanea, crocata, and bidcratifolia. Some 
confusion, however, appears to exist with regard to 
these names. 
How did the fancy Dahlias originate ? So far as we 
can learn, the earliest forms may be said to have 
commenced with Count Lelicur. He began to direct 
his attention to Dahlias in 1808. He successfully 
hybridized the few varieties he possessed, until he 
obtained purples, dark reds, cherry reds, buffs, and 
pale yellows, and by continued attention, the seedlings 
raised under his care at St. Cloud made rapid advances 
in perfection. He also succeeded in raising some 
stripes and shaded single varieties, the parents of our 
“fancies.” In 1818, our own English collections 
contained several double varieties, and these, from 
their superior beauty, form, and size, soon banished 
the single sorts from our gardens, and during the next 
thirty years our Dahlias made the progress which 
brought us up to the time at which this paper com¬ 
mences with. 
-—«!=<—- 
DRYING FERN FRONDS. 
The difference which exists between the drying of 
Ferns for purely botanical purposes, and the same 
operation performed with a view to forming a collection, 
is very great indeed. In the first instance, specimens 
collected and preserved for comparison must possess all 
the characters which are essential to distinguish one 
from another. It is therefore indispensable that, large 
or small, they should be of full size, on which account 
they often require to be doubled up in the herbarium, 
without the least regard to happy arrangement ; and 
provided their spores are present, it matters little if the 
frond which bears them be green, brown, or even black; 
colour, in the eye of a botanist, is of little value. 
Entirely different, however, is the work of the ordinary 
collector who, in his leisure hours, treasures up the 
most beautiful forms, and in most cases limits himself 
to them exclusively, judiciously leaving out specimens 
only possessed of botanical interest. As such collections 
are, as a rule, made by persons who can gather their speci¬ 
mens at any time, they can afford to wait until the fronds 
are in the best condition for cutting and pressing, and 
by so doing, and using a little judgment, the 3 r may 
insure the retention of their colours when dry. It is 
well known that, placed under exactly similar con¬ 
ditions, some Fern fronds will retain their natural 
colour much better than others. Trichomaues, Todeas, 
and Hymenophyllums, for instance, seldom become 
discoloured in drying ; in fact it may be said that 
generally all thin textured fronds keep better than those 
that possess more substance, such as some of the 
Aspleniums, Lomarias, Acrosticliums, &c. The reason 
for such a result is obvious. In the first place, scarely 
any moisture is exhaled during the drying, compared 
with the amount of it given off by fronds of a more 
