130 Bulletin 128. 



way to get best results the same season is to order large clumps 

 of roots from trustworthy firms that give prominence to the dahlia 

 in their catalogues. Our dahlias were frequently cultivated and 

 hoed in 1896, but were given no commercial fertilizers, the object 

 being to judge them under ordinary conditions. This year they 

 may be given extraordinarj^ care and judged at their best. Many 

 of the varieties produced no blooms at all in 1896. A. Blanc & 

 Co. sent 79 varieties, containing mostly importations and very re- 

 cent varieties which were received too late to be fairly compared 

 with the rest. W. W. Wilmore, the dahlia specialist of Denver, 

 Col.,. sent a large collection which suffered unjustly because it was 

 detained indoors until some tardy shipments arrived which had 

 been promised by a certain date. Henrj^ A. Dreer sent 136 vari- 

 ties, W. P. Peacock 58, and James Vick's Sons 8 varieties. 



Of all these varieties there were about sixty that behaved well 

 the first year and which seemed to be quite perfect in their way. 

 I had hoped to say a good word for all of these, but the list 

 has been sadly cut down in several ways. In the first place, 

 there were many names which may mean two or more things. 

 Dandy is the name of an English and an American large-flowering 

 variety and also of a pompon. Cannell gives two varieties named 

 Hector, one directly following the other. Secondly, we received 

 the same thing under different names. Maud, Marguerite and 

 Model of Perfect 1071 produced the same kind of a magenta flower, 

 altogether the best of that color in the large-flowering class. 

 Thirdly, I do not feel safe in recommending any variety with 

 crimson-pink in it, not even the variety commonly known as 

 Mme. Moreaii. This is a very serious matter and has come up in 

 the chrysanthemum test in a curious form. Some of the 

 very best and purest white flowers we had were described as pink 

 in the catalogues. Fourthly, at least five of the very best sorts 

 which were used as color standards turned out to be not true to 

 name. I should be glad to recommend these varieties if I could 

 be sure of the names. Fifthly, there are certain parts of the color 

 range that seem to be very much over-crowded. Dahlias are sin- 

 gularly rich in purples and dark reds. The competition is so 

 great that there are often a dozen or more kinds with differences 

 minute enough to show different origins but too nearly alike ia 



