4 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



chasers. If a considerable proportion of the cactus Dahlias 

 bearing blooms of high quality were of but little use for 

 contributing to the attractions of the garden, some portion 

 of the responsibility must be assigned to the cultivators. 

 Those who admired the graceful cactus-like blooms did 

 exactly what the lovers of roses had done before them : 

 they based their estimate of the merits of varieties upon the 

 individual blooms as presented to them at the public ex- 

 hibitions. In adding plants to their collections, whether for 

 garden decoration or exhibition, they made their selections 

 from the prize stands, and in the earlier days of the cactus 

 Dahlia the varieties bearing flowers in the highest state of 

 development had a very robust habit, consequently those 

 who purchased cactus Dahlias for the garden found that 

 instead of brilliant displays of colour they had masses of 

 foliage among which the flowers were hidden. In some 

 cases the luxuriance of growth was increased by the use of 

 manures in the preparation of the soil far beyond the re- 

 quirements of the plants. 



Happily for the future of the Dahlia, both cultivators and 

 raisers now recognise the importance of differentiating be- 

 tween the varieties for exhibition purposes and for garden 

 decoration, and also between the methods of culture best 

 adapted for the respective purposes. In the case of ex- 

 hibition Dahlias individual blooms of the highest quality 

 in their respective sections, as denned by the florists, 

 are essential, and the varieties may be selected without 

 reference to the habit or freedom of flowering. But when, 

 as in the majority of cases, they are intended for beautify- 

 ing the garden, the character of growth and flower produc- 

 tion should have the first consideration, and those only 



