252 



GENERAL REVIEW. 



Salter on some of the small-growing varieties ; and this 

 stock had a dwarfing effect, the plants so treated having 

 flowered in a much smaller state than others grown on their 

 own roots. New varieties are only to be obtained from seeds 

 saved from good sorts. The following is Mr Keynes's advice, 

 as given in the ' Gardeners' Chronicle,' October 16, 1875, p. 

 495 : " Towards the end of summer, when the raisers of seed- 

 ling Dahlias are turning their attention to the harvesting of 

 seed, it is well to recall a caution given some years ago, that 



Dahlia Grafting. 



' so surely as the grower leaves many blooms on a plant, so 

 surely will those blooms fail to produce seed.' The invariable 

 rule is to cut the plants pretty much to pieces about the middle 

 of September by freely thinning them out, for by this date the 

 Dahlia shows are over. Only the buds that are coining into 

 flower are left, and as an invariable rule these yield seed in 

 abundance. It would appear that the earlier blooms of the 

 Dahlia do not as a rule produce seed, and the moment (so 

 states Mr Keynes) a plant begins to seed, its flowers cease to 



