A Little Maryland Garden 67 
William Agnew, spoken of as the finest, 
most dazzling red in dahlias, and Nymphea, 
a large, fragrant pink. I was only to 
try a half dozen and the others selected 
were advertised to be of pure cactus form: 
Strahlein Krone, a dark red, Mary Service, 
orange scarlet, Mrs. Peart, white, and 
Blanche Keith, a yellow. It was hard to 
turn a deaf ear to the clamorous insistence 
of Clifford W. Bruton, a decorative, who 
made claims to immense growth, the purest 
shade of yellow, and great fulness and breadth 
of flower. But I decided for a yellow of the 
cactus variety, suspecting there might be 
something almost coarse in his rude health. 
I bought large, field-grown tubers and 
planted them on the 15th of April, giving 
careful attention to Mr. Peacock’s directions. 
The holes were dug deep and lined with cow 
manure, filled in with good earth, and given 
a top dressing of bone meal. On the subject 
of water I had no trouble, as the heavens 
provided a drenching every afternoon with 
few exceptions that summer. Yet I had 
