OCTOBEll 20, 189S. 



The Weekly Florists* Review* 



533 



Ivan Rachel 



Dussie Geoffrey 



Joan Gwendoline 



Aster-Flowered Dahlias. 



Oscar 

 Hilda 

 Charlotte 



The coolest house you have is the place 

 for these plants, and if it is shady none 

 the worse. After two weeks select 

 your Deutsche Perle, Simon Mardner 

 and Vervaneana for Christmas 

 flowers and put into a temperature of 

 GO degrees at night. It may ruin the 

 plant, but people don't expect anything 

 more and a pretty azalea will last 

 much longer and is less expensive than 

 a dozen roses at the holidays. 



WILLIAM SCOTT. 



THE DAHLIA. 



Fashion in flowers has again de- 

 cided that the dahlia is worthy of pop- 

 ular enthusiasm, and when one looks 

 over a collection of nearly 300 named 

 varieties and notes the wonderful 

 shapes and colors one can but wonder 

 that this flower has not always been 

 the favorite that it is now becoming. 

 The dahlia has a nlace in the season 

 between the gladiolus and chrysanthe- 

 mum that cannot be well filled by any 

 other flower and its brilliant colors 

 and beautiful forms are enough to 

 make any one an enthusiast. 



We are amateurs in dahlia culture, 

 but our large collection has been the 

 wonder of every one who has visited 

 them, and the orders for cut blooms 

 have come in so rapidly that we find 

 them quite profitable. In fact, we be- 

 lieve every florist ought to grow at 

 least "a stock of some of the most de- 

 sirable varieties. But when one 



comes to talk of desirable sorts it is 

 very hard to choose a few best kinds 

 as there are so many that are lovely 

 that it is hard to draw the line at a 

 few. 



There are four recognized types — 

 the Single, Show and Fancy, or large 

 flowered. Pompons, or small flowered, 

 and the Cactus class, but it is some- 

 times hard to draw the lines of classi- 

 fication between the different types, as 

 there are varieties that are so nearly 

 equal distant between the ideals of 

 each type that it is hard to say to 

 which they belong. Sometimes a 

 Pompon, if well grown, will be larger 

 than some of the Shows, if the plant 

 is not well grown, and others are near- 

 ly equally between the Show and Cac- 

 tus types; as specimens of these Amer- 

 ican Flag, Fern Leaved Beauty, and 

 Queen of Yellows, are usually classed 

 as Show and Fancy, but are fully as 

 near to the Cactus type. 



The single varieties are very pretty, 

 but have very little value for cut flow- 

 ers, as they drop their petals so quick- 

 ly. John Downie and Painted Lady 

 are among the best singles. Little 

 Dorothy is a new dwarf single, which 

 makes a fine pot plant. 



Snowclad is the best small white 

 Pompon. Little Beauty, Red Piper, 

 Daybreak, Vivid, Dr. Webb, Little Val- 

 entine, and Beauty Inconstant make 

 up a fine collection of Pompons. 



In Show and Fancy sorts. King of 



Dwarfs is a fine purnle, John Sladden, 

 a beautiful maroon. A. D. Lavoni, Miss 

 Florence Shearer, Teddy, Density, Ele- 

 ganta, and Model of Perfection, are all 

 excellent pinks; Pluton, Fanny Pur- 

 chase, Miss Dodd, and Yellow Boy, are 

 among the best yellows. Purity, Beau- 

 ty, and John Walker are all fine white 

 varieties. Among combination colors. 

 Zephyr stands at the head. Country 

 Lad, Edith Connor, Miss Browning. 

 American Flag, and Fern-Leaved 

 Beauty are worthy of general cultiva- 

 tion, and for beautiful shadings are 

 hard to beat. Mrs. Dexter is a lovely 

 blending of orange and salmon. 



The new Cactus type is at present 

 creating the greatest sensation, and 

 it is no wonder for their loose, grace- 

 ful petals are such a contrast to the 

 older ball-shaped flowers. Nymphaea 

 is a beautiful light pink, Marchioness 

 of Bute, a lovely pink and white, Clif- 

 ford W. Bruton, Sunlight, and Mrs. E. 

 C. Monroe are lovely yellows. Black 

 Prince and Zulu are fine dark maroons, 

 Lyndhurst a fine scarlet. Bronze Cac- 

 tus, Unique and Iridescent are beau- 

 tiful blended colors. Orange King a 

 fine orange, Henry Patrick the finest 

 white, Amphion is a combination of 

 red, yellow and amber, Oban a lovely 

 rosy lavender, overlaid with a silvery 

 fawn, Xanthia and William Miller 

 are lovely purplish wine color, Maid of 

 Kent is cherry red tipped with pure 

 white, but sometimes comes with pure 

 red flowers and others nearly all 

 white; it is one of the best and al- 

 ways attracts attention. There are 

 many other fine sorts, but those named 

 are among the best. 



The Cactus class has two failings: 

 they are, as a rule, later in blooming 

 than other classes, and the stems are 

 short on most varieties. There are 

 some exceptions, however, in both 

 cases, and the varieties we have re- 

 commended are among the best In 

 these respects. 



The next sensation in dahlia culture 

 will be the new type to be called the 

 "Aster flowered," an engraving from a 

 photograph of twelve fine blooms from 

 as many different varieties of this 

 new type is presented with this arti- 

 cle. The four in the center row are all 

 different shades of pink and the twelve 

 sorts make a collection hard to equal. 

 The description of the class is as fol- 

 lows: Flowers not as large as the 

 Show type; petals, however, are longer 

 and often rolled or folded, sometimes 

 cut, serrated or fringed, inner petals 

 often curled and twisted; always 

 shows a small yellow center, blossoms 

 very graceful, usually on long stems 

 and unequalled for cut flowers. They 

 undoubtedly will be a great acquisi- 

 tion. L. H. READ. 



CARNATIONS FOR FALL FLOWER- 

 ING. 

 Please give a list of the best half 

 dozen carnations for flowering outside 

 (naming colors) to fill in the gap be- 

 tween the clearing off of the green- 



