THE DAHLIA. 185 



MEETING FOR DISCUSSION. 



The Dahlia. 



By William E. Endicoit, of Canton. 



In the Gardeners' Chronicle of 1879, Mr. Hemsle}' reckoned 

 the number of species of dahlia as nine : imperialism excelsa, 

 BarJcerice, 3faximiliana, scapigera^ variabilis, coccinea, gracilis, 

 and MercTcii. These are reduced to four or five in the "Genera 

 Plantarum " of Bentham and Hooker. All the species and natural 

 varieties, however many they may be, are natives of Mexico, and 

 are found at various elevations from four thousand to ten thousand 

 feet. The genus is named from the Swedish botanist, Dahl ; the 

 first a therefore should be sounded as in father, though we 

 generall}' hear the word pronounced ddll-ya, and in England, if we 

 ma}' judge from Mr. Hibberd's remarks, ddle-ya meets accept- 

 ance. The genus was also at one time called Georgina and is 

 entered under that name in German catalogues. 



Seeds of the Dahlia were sent to Madrid by the botanist 

 Cavanilles, in 1789, and some of these were sent to Kew by the 

 wife of Lord Bute who was then British ambassador to Spain. 



One complete centur}- of cultivation has been expended upon 

 the Dahlia ; in a few weeks we shall begin its second century of 

 development. Strangel}" enough at the end of the century, the 

 original single forms enjoy the highest degree of popularity. In 

 one hundred jears the entire circle. has been traced and we find 

 ourselves back at the point of beginning. 



The dahlia was known only as a single flower for twenty-five 

 years ; it was not until 1814 that the first double was raised ; but 

 the break once made double flowers became numerous. Among 

 the earlier double flowers were man}' with flat or pointed petals, 

 very like most of the so-called " cactus" varieties of the present 

 day. 



The culture of the dahlia is not a difficult matter. In May the 

 roots should be brought out from their winter quarters and 

 examined. The tubers which are hanging to the crown by only 

 a few dead fibres should be cut off and the sound part so divided 

 that each portion shall have not more than one or two buds ; 

 these will be readily discernible in May. If the roots are planted 



