29(i 



HORTICULTURE 



October 16, 1920 



RAMBLING OBSERVATIONS OF 

 A ROVING GARDENER 



This has been a wonderful season 

 for dahlias. As I write this the plants 

 in my garden are still blooming in 

 spite of several rather cold nights. 

 There never has been a year, I think, 

 when there have been so many dahlia 

 shows or when they have been so 

 largely attended. An interesting fea- 

 ture of the present era of dahlia en- 

 thusiasm is the tendency on the part 

 of growers to specialize. This tend- 

 ency, I think, will grow because of the 

 great diversity in the different types 

 and the difficulty w^hich any amateur 

 has in keeping track of the varieties 

 when growing all the different forms. 

 Of course, the cactus dahlias have a 

 tremendous number of devotees, but 

 I find the peony flowered and single 

 dahlias very high in favor. There is a 

 constant turning towards single varie- 



ties in all classes of flowers so that I 

 look for a much greater development 

 among single dahlias and those of the 

 collarette type than has been seen up 

 to the present time. 



One is almost overwhelmed when 

 confronted with the constantly grow- 

 ing lists of varieties. It is obvious that 

 some sort of process must be put into 

 operation that will limit the number 

 and make selections of the very best. 

 Looking back through dahlia litera- 

 ture we find that this flower is quite a 

 modern introduction when compared 

 with other favorite flowers, like the 

 carnation and the tulip. Still, if you 

 go back early in the century you will 

 find that dahlias were then grown in 

 considerable numbers. The Annual 

 Dahlia Register, an old English publi- 



cation dated 1836, mentions at least 

 750 varieties. According to a writer in 

 the Gardeners' Chronicle (English) 

 the pompom dahlia was first intro- 

 duced in 1850 by growers in Germany, 

 from which country large numbers 

 were sent to England. I understand 

 that there is discussion in England 

 about attempting to make a complete 

 alphabetical list of dahlia names, past 

 as well as present. It is hard to see 

 what actual good would be accom- 

 plished, and yet such a list would be 

 interesting. At the same time it is 

 pretty safe to say that the compiler 

 would be going dangerously far If he 

 labeled a list complete even after hav- 

 ing gathered together every name 

 which he could find in catalogues 

 ancient and modern. 



The multiplicity of names and varie- 

 ties is a matter which affects all 

 classes of popular plants. This Is 

 especially true of roses, and I am in- 

 terested to find that the matter is be- 

 ing taken up in Europe in much the 

 same way as in this country. Prom- 



SEMI-OOUBLE CACTUS DAHLIA EDELWBISS 



