30 Commercial Gardening 



consensus of opinion being that it does not pay when the markets are 

 glutted with the flowers. 



VARIETIES TO GROW. (Indoors): Major, Ard Righ, Obvallaris, Golden 

 Spur, Henry Irving, Princeps, Horsfieldi, Empress, Victoria, Ornatus, 

 Emperor, Sir Watkin, Barri conspicuus, with Almira, Dante, Cassandra, 

 Horace, and Herrick of the newer poeticus race to follow. Of double- 

 flowered varieties Von Sion, (or N. telamonius plenus) and Orange Phoenix 

 and Sulphur Phoenix of the incomparabilis set. 



For outdoor work the double Von Sion is not of much use though all 

 others given above may be grown in quantity. In addition one might 

 name Frank Miles, Beauty, Gloria Mundi, Madame Plemp, Madame de 

 Graaf, Albatross, Seagull, Duchess of Westminster, and Mrs. Langtry. 

 Excelsior is an improved Golden Spur, and later in flowering. Monarch 

 is an improved Emperor. Too -much -alike varieties, as P. E. Barr to 

 Emperor, Horsfieldi to Empress, are things to avoid. In certain instances 

 Victoria, Empress, and Horsfieldi may all be grown, while generally the 

 two first-named will meet every requirement in the earlier Ajax bicolors. 

 Grandis, a late-flowering bicolor, might be grown for this reason alone, 

 though not so extensively as the others. Selection and succession are the 

 great points to aim at, and with these marketable flowers, flowers of dis- 

 tinction and merit. In short the Daffodil is still a profitable thing to grow, 

 and the plant of which you can sell both top and bottom bulb and 

 flower could hardly be otherwise. See " Narcissus ", p. 73. [E. H. J.] 



Dahlia. The cultivation of this plant for profit is necessarily quite 

 .apart from the ordinary routine growing. The various cultivators can be 

 divided into three sections: the raisers of new varieties, the wholesale 

 growers, and the retail nurserymen. These sections are fairly distinct, 

 though a few combine all three to a certain extent. Then we have the 

 men who grow only to supply our large public markets such as Covent 

 Garden; these growers usually cultivate for cut flowers in the autumn 

 months. It will therefore be seen that the Dahlia forms no mean subject 

 from a commercial point of view. The business of raising new varieties 

 is practically confined to a few men, who devote much care, time, and land 

 with this object in view, and, needless to add, it must show a fair amount 

 of profit, even if they only raise six or eight new varieties annually, for 

 good prices are obtained for them. At the same time, this section of profit- 

 able culture would not commend itself to the bulk of growers. 



WHOLESALE AND RETAIL GROWERS. This section of cultivators is an 

 ever-increasing one, and likely to be so while the interest in the Dahlia 

 continues to grow. Few people realize the tens of thousands of young 

 plants that are raised and sold annually in the spring months. To be 

 successful, the grower must have plenty of land on which to grow his 

 stock, also a large amount of glass, both houses and frames. He must 

 also make large purchases of new varieties, and above all keep his stock 

 true to name, for any grower sending out wrongly-named stock would 

 inevitably fail to hold his customers. As in so many things, to be sue- 



