2 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



its history and learn how great and varied have been the 

 changes it has undergone during its cultivation in European 

 gardens. Not only is the interest increased, but the pleasure 

 to be derived from the cultivation of the plants is greatly 

 enhanced ; moreover, valuable lessons may be obtained 

 from the record of work of past generations of growers 

 and raisers. 



With respect to the popularity of the Dahlia, attention 

 may with advantage be directed to the fact that there has 

 always been a remarkable steadiness about the fame of this 

 flower. Its cultivators are, it may be assumed, enthusiastic, 

 but their enthusiasm is of a quiet kind, and not, as in the 

 case of that of some other flowers, bubbling over and giving 

 rise to the feeling that it will soon exhaust itself. In taking 

 a retrospective glance over the hundred and odd years that 

 have elapsed since the Dahlia was introduced from its 

 Mexican home to this country, it becomes evident that, quiet 

 though it may have been, enthusiasm as well as strenuous 

 endeavour must have been forthcoming at an early period 

 in the history of the Dahlia as a cultivated flower. The 

 creation of the varied and beautiful types that are now to 

 be seen in gardens could not well have been effected with- 

 out something more than the carrying out, in a more or 

 less mechanical manner, of the technical details essential to 

 success. That something must have been enthusiasm, for 

 without it there could not have been that constancy of pur- 

 pose, extending over a comparatively long period, which is 

 an example to all who are engaged in plant improvement. 



Even to those who are constantly in touch with the 

 activities of the florists of the present day, and therefore 

 conversant with what is being accomplished in the world 



