114 VILLA GAEDEXING I'Akt i 



as no part of the Dahlia •will bear frost. Dahlias in cottage 

 gardens frequently live through the winter in the ground, though 

 in the event of a severe winter, if the frost reaches them, they 

 die ; still, I have known them kept in this way for a long time, 

 covered with a mound of ashes in winter before sharp frost sets 

 in ; but the plan has nothing to recommend it wiiere really good 

 cidture is aimed at. Dahlias are not often employed as wall 

 plants, but I once saw a low wall covered with them, and 

 very effective it looked. The plants had been there for several 

 years without removal when I saw them, and had acquired great 

 strength, and being in a small sheltered back garden, tliey com- 

 menced to flower early, and continued to bloom long after those in 

 the open garden had been cut oft" by frost. They were trained to 

 the wall, and the growth being thinned and the leading shoots 

 unstoj^ped, the plants reached a considerable height. In winter 

 the crowns were covered wdth Cocoa -nut -fibre. Altogether, I 

 thought the idea was not a bad one, and showed that a mind 

 untrammelled may discover novelty of treatment in many ways if 

 allowed scope. Dahlias are easily raised from seeds, and the 

 seedlings flower the same year, though as regards the double 

 varieties, unless the business is entered u])ou systematically and 

 extensively, there is not much chance of eclipsing the best varieties 

 already sent out. I append the names and heights of a few good 

 varieties in the various classes : — 



Double Dahlias (Shotv). — Annie Gibbons, primrose, 4 feet ; 

 Aurora, buft', 2| feet ; Burgundy, puce and maroon, 3h feet ; 

 Canary, yellow, 4 feet ; Charles Lidford, yellow, crimson edge, 

 3 feet ; Countess of Lonsdale, rosy lilac, 4 feet ; Cardinal, scarlet, 

 3 feet ; Celestial, French white, 3 feet ; Comet, red, 2 feet ; Critic, 

 lilac, 3J feet ; Cremorne, yellow, tipped with red, 3 feet ; Crown 

 Prince, pale buff", 4 feet ; Ethel Britton, blush white, purple edge, 

 3 J- feet ; Flag of Truce, white, lilac tipped, 3 feet ; Frank Iiawling.s, 

 magenta, 3 feet ; George Goodall, scarlet and orange, 3 feet ; Gold- 

 finder, yellow', tipi^ed with red, 2 feet ; George Dickson, chestnut 

 brown, 4 feet; Henry Bond, rosy lilac, 4 feet; Henry Walton, yellow, 

 vermilion edge, 3 feet ; Joseph Ashby, orange, 3 feet ; John Laing, 

 scarlet, 3 feet ; John Bennett, yellow, scarlet edges, 3 feet ; John 

 N. Keynes, yellow, 3i feet ; James Vick, maroon, 3 feet ; Miss 

 Henshaw, wdiite, 3h feet ; Mrs. Harris, white, lilac edge, 2| feet ; 

 Mrs. Staucombe, yellow, tijDped with fawn, 3 feet ; Queen's Mes- 

 senger, purple, 3 feet ; Maggie Fairburn, pale lilac, 3 feet ; Ovid, 

 purple, 3^- feet ; Shirley Hibberd, dark crimson, 3 feet ; Sarah 

 M'Millan, jiiuk, 3 feet ; Rev. Dr. Moftat, mulberry, 3 feet ; Royal 

 Queen, white, tipped with peach, 3 feet ; Triumphant, rosy purple, 



