THE DAHLIA. 191 



President of Mexico, was the first, and is so far the best, that I 

 am almost inclined to sa}' that no other sort is worth growing. 

 Its color is intense and pure scarlet, and its shape and the 

 arrangement of petals are peculiar. I regard it as a very valuable 

 introduction. Lord Lj-ndhurst is very good, and is a reproduction 

 of it on a somewhat smaller scale and in a lighter shade of color. 

 It is, I think, a sport from Juarezi. Mondamin is a fine pink 

 variety raised from seed of Juarezi and has the same peculiar 

 shape. I can name no more than these three. I have not seen 

 all that are in existence, but I have seen many and do not desire 

 to own them. It is of no use to mention single varieties. 



At the close of the lecture, a vote of thanks to Mr. Endicott, 

 for his very able and interesting paper, was unanimously passed. 



Discussion. 



John C. Hovey spoke in commendation of the class of Bouquet 

 dahlias. The}' grow only from a foot and a half to two feet high 

 and do not require staking. They flo^ver very abundantly. He 

 thought the varieties raised here from seed would flower earlier 

 than foreign varieties. 



Leverett M. Chase said that he visited Mr. Endicott's grounds 

 two years ago and saw a variety which was one mass of flowers 

 and ver}' beautiful. It was Highland -Mary, and was raised by 

 Mr. Endicott some years ago from seed of "White Aster. The 

 most noticeable thing there was a line of this kind ; he had never 

 seen anything so floriferous ; the flowers grew above the foliage 

 and in unceasing abundance. They are of a delicate pink with 

 patches of white florets. 



John Parker said that he had had an experience of sixty 3'ears 

 in growing dahlias and had always been successful. He had 

 been an exhibitor more than forty years. At the Annual Exhibi- 

 tion of this Societ}' in Faneuil Hall in 1848, he exhibited forty- 

 seven varieties of dahlias. He had set out a plant in flower in 

 April which had continued to flower until frost. He had had a 

 plant of Lord Liverpool which grew to be fourteen feet high. 

 The dahlia is in its glor}- when all other flowers are faded and 

 gone. He gives them plenty of water and plenty of enrichment 

 and trims them up to a single stalk. The French have a method 

 of letting them lie on the ground and flower like bedding plants. 



