November 1, 19111 



HORTICULTURE 



385 



RAMBLING OBSERVATIONS OF 

 A ROVING GARDENER 



m 



I have noticed an interesting ten- 

 dency among dahlia growers which is 

 to concentrate their attention on flow- 

 ers of one or two types. Of course 

 this is not the case with men or 

 women who grow dahlias in a large 

 way, but is confined more to small 

 gardeners. One man in Brockton, 

 Mass., though, who specializes on dec- 

 orative dahlias grows enough so that 

 he sells a considerable numner ol 

 bulbs every year, and in this connec- 

 tion it may be said that all over the 

 country there are dahlia enthusiasts 

 now who plan to sell a sufficient num- 

 ber of tubers each year to make their 

 hobby pay its way. They are usually 



successful, for there seems to be no 

 end to the demand for dahlias. The 

 extent of this demand may be indi- 

 cated by the fact that one grower in 

 New England is storing this season 

 fifty thousand roots of one variety 

 alone, Stradella, a variety much in 

 demand. This same man is putting in 

 almost as many roots of another va- 

 riety, and altogether will have several 

 million tubers in storage. 



This is getting away, though, from 

 my original line of thought about the 

 tendency to specialize on certain types. 

 This tendency has come along coinci- 

 dently with the growing popularity of 

 the varieties which have departed al- 



most wholly from the original dahlia 

 type, the chub-faced dahlia of which 

 Maeterlinck wrote In humorous deri- 

 sion. I think the time is coming when 

 there will be gardens filled almost en- 

 tirely with collarette dahlias, single 

 dahlias, duplex dahlias and paeony- 

 flowered dahlias. Of course the decor- 

 ative dahlia stands high in poularity 

 because of it3 value for cutting, and 

 the cactus dahlia in its many forms 

 is a fascinating flower. 



The paeony-flowered dahlia, though, 

 has a charm all its own, and some va- 

 rieties make even the rose lover waver 

 for a moment in his loyalty to the 

 queen of the flowers. It is regretable 

 that some of the best of the paeony- 

 flowered varieties are very difficult to 

 winter. This applies to Geisha, one 

 of the most sensational dahlias ever 

 put out, and one which every amateur 

 craves for his collection. There are 

 few dahlias which are more certain 



The lWuutiftil I ilium WtlmOttlae 



