130 
SEEDLING FLORIST’S FLOWERS. 
The object of the florist is usually an increase of the floral organs; 
by his efforts stamens are expanded into petals, and the flower 
with a single whorl of coloured leaves becomes enlarged and 
beautified with a series of such leaves; or he desires to add bril¬ 
liancy and new colours to his already double flowers. This he 
accomplishes by the pertinacious adherence to a set of rules, 
which serve for the foundation of his labours, for it is seldom 
any striking change is effected but by a continued perseverance 
in one direction. Increase in the size or number of the organs 
of a flower is generally obtainable by imparting extraordinary 
vigour to the plant. Some are more readily induced than others; 
but if it can be once started from its proper form, there is no 
definable limit for the alterations. Double flowers are a conse¬ 
quence of an unnatural increase in the reproductive organs—the 
stamens are enlarged and become petals, and this appears to be 
the ultimatum of enlargement, for there is a tendency in all 
extra-natural flowers, especially such as have been driven by 
culture from their normal condition to an increased size, to de¬ 
velop further addition of vigour in this transformation of the 
stamens into petals, and so become double; and when such an 
inclination is apparent, it may be regarded as evidence that the 
utmost size of the flower in a single state has been attained. The 
pansy and geranium are now just in this state of transition; they 
are not likely to produce larger flowers, but a very little trouble 
would induce another row of petals. But, it will be seen, this 
change is effected so entirely at the expense of the seminal organs, 
by converting the principal part of them into another form, that 
the production of seed by such flowers is almost impossible; 
there is the style left, truly, but there is no pollen to fertilize it, 
and hence the difficulty of obtaining seed from the better varieties 
of such things as carnations and pinks. It may occur to the 
mind of the non-professional, that certain flowers, commonly 
called double, such as the dahlia, marigold, &c., produce seed in 
abundance ; but it is to be explained, these are not properly 
double but composite flowers, each petal of which is a distinct 
flower, containing pistil and stamens in itself, and therefore un¬ 
changed by art; the alteration effected by the florist in their ap¬ 
pearance being not a transformation, but a positive addition of 
parts. 
