30 
THE DAHLIA. 
extra trouble, but where much humidity in the atmosphere is 
kept up, as in orchidaceous houses, or among rockwork, it might 
form an interesting addition. 
In botanical arrangement the genus is included in the natural 
order Solanacese, and according to the Linnsean system, in Class 
V, Order 1, Pentandria Monogynia. 
Editor. 
THE PROPAGATION OF DAHLIAS. 
♦ 
Notwithstanding the accusation of plagiarism to which the 
subject of the following paper may render me liable, and having 
before me all the terror of a “ thrice-told tale,” I am inclined to 
venture once again upon the provoking theme. Yfe must remem¬ 
ber, Mr. Editor, there are young gardeners springing up each 
season, in manner and numbers far surpassing all anticipations, 
completely exploding the old-fashioned simile having relation to 
the precocity of a certain edible, the production of our fields and 
meadows, and belonging to the natural order Fungi. I am in¬ 
deed pleased that the seed you and others have sown, should be 
found to yield so good a return, for to the influence and assistance 
derivable from books, must be attributed much of the growing 
interest evinced in the cause of horticulture, and, as a matter of 
course, I entertain the highest sympathetic respect for the man 
who can thus find pleasure and, it may be, profit, in attending 
on so fair a portion of the great Creator’s work; the habits of 
order and observance it engenders, cannot always fail of fruitful¬ 
ness in some shape or other, and must tend to elevate the mind, 
though the pursuit be stigmatized by the appellation of trivial 
among the mere money-seeking portion of the world; that some 
such feeling is growing among men’s minds is evident, or what 
induces so many to adopt the garden as a scene of relaxation 
and rational pleasure. All, positively all, are becoming gardeners 
in some shape or other, and the rapidity with which houses in 
the suburbs, having the indispensable garden, are built and let, 
argues well for the regular professors of our favorite science. 
The occupants of these gardens are generally practitioners to 
