97 



BOUQUET DAHLIAS. 



Gekuax florists have not only a more 

 catholic taste, but a better climate 

 than English ones, and to the double 

 advantage we are no doubt indebted 

 for many of the fine strains of annual 

 seeds, and many of the peculiar races 

 of ornamental plants which the Teu- 

 tonic cultivators have presented to 

 us. The writer of this was a witness, 

 last year, of the great difference be- 

 tween a German and an English 

 florist. It happened that the repre- 

 sentative of a great German house 

 visited a large grower of a certain 

 tribe of florists' flowers. The Ger- 

 man visitor rambled over the grounds 

 on the first morning of his stay, and 

 as he went he inserted in various 

 places some short sticks, which he 

 cut for the purpose from a hedge of 

 willow. In the course of his walk 

 he met his host, the owner of the 

 ground ; he also was walking through, 

 and marking certain plants by tying 

 strips of bast to them. After the 

 usual greetings, the Englishman said 

 he had been marking a few good 

 seedlings, which had bloomed for the 

 first time that morning, and he had 

 also drawn out and left to be killed 

 by the sunshine many that he had 

 found to be worthless. " Yes," said 

 the German visitor, "you have done 

 well to save a few in those rows ; 

 when you look through the rows I 

 have inspected, you must save all 

 that I have marked." A smile passed 

 over the Englishman's face as he 

 looked at one of these, and took the 

 measure of its inferiority, but it 

 vanished as the German seized him 

 by the arm, and said, " I knew the 

 perfect flowers would not escape 

 your eye, so I did not mark any ; 

 those that I have marked will be 

 valuable for bouquets, for beds, for 

 great groups— in short, for any and 

 every purpose except exhibiting." 

 The Englishman had hitherto moved 

 in a narrow groove, but in an instant 

 he had escaped from its trammels, 

 and his gains at the end of the 

 season were largely increased by his 

 turning to account all the plants his 

 German friend had marked, a3 well 

 as those he had marked himself. 



Indeed, when Herr M bade him 



farewell, he said, " This is the differ- 

 ence between your practice and mine ; 

 you look to see how much you can 

 destroy, I to see how much I can 

 keep. If we at home had not adopted 

 such a policy long ago, you English 

 would never have had the benefit of 

 the many fine kinds of stocks, asters, 

 balsams, etc., etc., which we annually 

 send you." 



The race of bouquet dahlias are 

 the result of selections made from 

 seedling dahlias, according to the 

 German policy of keeping everything 

 good, without reference to any pecu- 

 liar standard of properties. Hence 

 amongst them are to be found a 

 considerable variety of forms and 

 proportions, and it requires discrimi- 

 nation on the ■part of the cultivator 

 to select the best and neglect the 

 worst. Show dahlias are noble orna- 

 ments of the garden, but they are 

 too lumpy for appropriation to fill 

 vases and form bouquets. The true 

 bouquet dahlias are invaluable for 

 cutting, and they come to perfection 

 at a time when the border flowers 

 begin to wane, and when, therefore, 

 flowers for vases are scarce. Eor 

 this, if for no other reason, they 

 should be grown by all who have 

 need for autumn flowers. 



As happens so commonly as 

 scarcely to call for remark, a great 

 many dahlias have been sent out as 

 members of the pompone or bouquet 

 class, which really belong to no class 

 at all. Therefore it is we advise 

 cultivators to be careful in selecting, 

 for under the name of pompones they 

 may have many varieties too small 

 for show, not good as border flowers, 

 and yet far too large and heavy for 

 vases and bouquets. In such a case 

 as this, a good list is invaluable ; and 

 we are enabled to present one, which, 

 though short, is nevertheless lengthy 

 enough for all ordinary purposes, 

 and thoroughly safe, for it is the 

 result of a careful personal inspec- 

 tion of all the varieties that have 

 been catalogued as pompons. The 

 smallness of the flowers of the best 

 bouquet varieties is one of their best 



