324 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



{November, 



Mr. S3'nion(ls' l)ullts ^ct no spcciiil (rcatincnt , 

 a toiMln'ssiiii: of old liot-hcd ni;uinrt\ mixed 

 witli a little lime, in the Autumn Jieiiii: all they 

 demand. The fact is they like their surround- 

 ings. A light, rich soil, seldom too wet or too 

 dry, rarely superheated, and partially shaded hy 

 neighhoring trees and vines, has kept them in 

 health and excited them to yield results which. 

 althiiULrh rivalled hy hulhs specially cultivated in 

 England, has never, to my knowledge, heen 

 eijualed hy l)ulhs growing naturally in the open 

 air. 



NEW DAHLIAS. 



BY "W. S. IIIIJ15EK1), lUCirMOXD, IND. 



Among all cultivated tiowers, a constant 

 change and improvement is being wrought 

 through the patient and careful labor of the 

 hybridizer, often almost completely revolution- 

 izing in a few seasons our lists of vai'ieties of 

 favorite tiowers. And while much that is ottered 

 among novelties is inferior and not up to the 

 highest standard even of older sorts, still an ex- 

 amination will show that a handsome percent- 

 age of our best flowers of all kinds have been 

 introduced in the last few years. Xowhere is 

 this more noticeable than in Dahlias ; every 

 3'ear we get new sorts, embracing shades, colors 

 and forms before scarce or unknown, until now, 

 perhaps, no other class comprises so wide a 

 range of colors, if we include the fancy, or 

 striped and tipped flowers. As we have as yet 

 no acknowledged floral tribunal before which 

 American novelties can be brought to have their 

 merits criticised, we have to rely, in a great 

 measure, upon the English raisers for Qur new 

 ,stock, their Royal Horticultural Society serving 

 as a test to most new English plants, and in the 

 main, its decisions are apparently fair and un- 

 biased. Thus while many fine seedling Dahlias 

 are annually raised in this country, but a small 

 per cent, probably of even the good ones find 

 their way into commerce, owing to this lack of 

 an accepted power to pronounce upon their 

 merits, and we find the best known novelties in 

 these popular flowers coming from across the 

 water. 



Having a good selection of the newer English 

 sorts under my notice during this season, I give 

 you below some of the results of my observa- 

 tions. The novelties referred to originated prin- 

 cipally with Keynes and Turner, names so well- 

 known through the new plants they have sent 



out in the i)ast, as to leave little doubt to begin 

 with in regard to the value of any they may 

 think worthy of being sent out into the floral 

 world under their names and reconiniendati<ins. 

 A prominent feature of these novelties is the 

 symmetry of form and full bold centre of the 

 flowers ; this is especially noticeable in Turner's 

 ("hris. Ridley and Fiiraro, l)oth of which were 

 awarded first-class certificates by the Royal Hor- 

 ticultural Society. The flower first mentioned 

 is of moderate size and a bright crimson color, 

 the centre being always carefully filled with 

 petals and showing perfect until the flower falls 

 to pieces. Figaro is a larger flower of a really 

 new color, the lower half of the ])etals being a 

 pure yellow, which shines through the surface 

 color of bright red with a beautiful eftect. These 

 two Dahlias produce a surprising quantity of 

 bloom; a plant of Chris. Ridley which, when 

 set out last Spring, had a tuber no larger than 

 a walnut and with a single slender shoot, now 

 has upwards of a hundred and fifty buds and 

 open blooms upon it, while a plant of its com- 

 panion has nearly if not quite as man}'. I have 

 no doubt that if the buds had been judiciously 

 thinned the flowers would have been of a larger 

 size, but as all the blooms they have produced 

 were perfect, a number of smaller ones were 

 preferred to a few show flowers. Drake Lewis^ 

 another of Turner's, is of a color very accept- 

 able to American amateurs — a rich, deep scarlet, 

 very full and perfect. Keynes' late novelties 

 remind us very forcil>ly of what floriculture lost 

 in his death. His David Saunders is a magnifi- 

 cent Dahlia, often coming very large, and its 

 rich purple-maroon color is much admired. 

 Dauntless is also very good, orange-crimson in 

 color and a large flower. The largest of all, 

 however, is John Wni. Lord, another of Key- 

 nes' seedlings ; the outline of the flower is per- 

 fect and compactly filled with deep petals, and 

 the centre fully covered ; in color it varies from 

 orange-vei-million to bright crimson, with some- 

 times a buft* shading on the surface. This also 

 was awarded a certificate by the Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society. Vivid is a large flower of a soft 

 rich scarlet, and well worth}' of its name. Min- 

 nie Bond, a creamy-white flower eflged wilh 

 purple, and Hon. Sidney Herbert, deep crimson, 

 both of Keynes' raising, are very good indeed. 

 The first blooms of Mrs. John Downie were 

 also excellent, but those produced later have 

 not been so perfect, the flowers failing to shape 

 up nicely. 



