not only as types, but as the actual stud for perpetuating each race.  Hence the decline of floriculture would imply the deterioration of flowers, and the prosperity of floriculture involves progress not only in those subjects which lie within the florists’ domain, but of many others to which they have not devoted special attention.  Yet the acknowledgment must be made that, brilliant as their triumphs have been, the methods they practised have in some instances entailed very severe penalties.  Continuous propagation for many generations, under artificial conditions, so debilitated the constitution of Hollyhocks, Verbenas, and some other subjects, that the plants became victims of diseases which at one time threatened their existence.  To save them from annihilation it was necessary to desert the worn path of propagation, and raise plants possessing the initial vigour of seedlings.  In stamina these seedlings proved eminently satisfactory, although in other respects they were at first sadly disappointing.  It then became clear that before show flowers could be obtained from seedlings judgment and skill must be devoted to the art of saving seed.  This was necessarily a work of time, demanding great patience and rare scientific knowledge.  The task was undertaken with enthusiasm in many directions, and the results have more than justified this labour of love.  Formerly, the universal mode of perpetuating named Hollyhocks was by the troublesome process of cuttings, or by grafting buds on roots of seedlings in houses heated to tropical temperature.  In many places it was the custom to lift the old plants, pot them, and keep them through the winter in pits.  All this was found requisite to insure fine flowers.  While the burden of the work was thus rendered heavy, the constitution of the plant became enfeebled, and at one time the fear was entertained that its extinction was at hand.  But the new system has preserved the Hollyhock, and at the same time afforded a striking example of the principle that seed saved scientifically is found to reproduce the varieties it was taken from.  Seedling Hollyhocks now give double flowers of the finest quality; and the seedling plants are less liable to disease.  So with the Verbena.  From suitable seed plants can be raised that will produce the most resplendent flowers, and instead of propagating a stock to keep over winter, to be stricken with mildew and cost no end of care, only to become diseased at last, a pinch of seed is sown in January or February, and soon there is a stock of healthy plants possessing the vigour peculiar to seedlings.  These, being bedded out at a proper time, flower far more freely than plants from cuttings, and produce trusses twice the size.