Dahlias. ioi 



good care, but nothing more ; and when we showed them 

 at Philadelphia and New York we took the varieties as they run, 

 good and poor alike. If the varieties were not satisfactory, it is 

 easy to see where the fault lies ; and there is therefore all the 

 more need for an experiment to show the actual status of the 

 business. We have found, as the result of considerable experi- 

 mentation in various lines of floriculture, that we do not often get 

 the best stock which the dealers have. We often receive the tag- 

 ends. If the dealers are willing that the varieties should be 

 judged by such plants, we have no reason to object. It is of 

 course, perfectly natural and proper that the originator of new 

 varieties, or the exhibition grower, should retain his best strains 

 for his own use, and for this reason the experiment station can 

 never hope to equal the specialists in the quality of plants, even 

 if such were its legitimate ambition. 



We made our dahlia exhibitions upon the express understand- 

 ing that the flowers were not entered for competition, and they 

 were designed — as we supposed every one would know — as an 

 illustrative and educational display of the kinds in the market, of 

 the range in forms and colors and other features which the flowers 

 possess, and of what the grower may expect of the plant ; and 

 we desired to collect information for our own use. The officers of 

 the Institute evidently caught the spirit of the exhibition, for, un- 

 known to us, they awarded the Experiment Station a bronze medal 

 and a diploma for " a display of 212 varieties of typical dahlias." 



All these remarks are made, not as a defense, but simply to 

 illustrate by a concrete example what an experiment station is 

 for. Its purpose is to make records. It would clearly exceed its 

 province if it were to grow plants primarily for ' ' exhibition 

 quality," and the florists would no doubt be amongst the first to 

 object to such competition. 



It. H. Baii,ey. 



