82 The Amateur s Book of the Dahlia 



is no choice if any flowers at all are to be ex- 

 pected. 



Two seasons have gone by when no such 

 situation developed. June was cool and rainy. 

 July was hot and rainy. August was rainy. 

 Dahlias set out at all times did equally well, and 

 the unusually fine crop of blooms over a pro- 

 longed season did much to work up dahlia en- 

 thusiasm to the highest pitch. 



But the drought of the past summer (1921) 

 caught many gardens napping. Plants which 

 had started early were rattling like a bag of 

 bones by mid-August, and many a beginner be- 

 came deeply discouraged. 



My own method is to begin planting the 

 tubers of slow-growing varieties about May 

 20th, adding from time to time the others ac- 

 cording to their habits known to me. Half the 

 tubers of each variety whose habits I have still to 

 learn are planted early and the rest late, for ob- 

 servation. Plants are set out during June, dating 

 according to the length of time the variety takes 

 to begin its bloom even early July is not too 

 late for some. Plants of Gertrude Dahl, set out 

 in my garden the first week in August, pro- 

 duced blooms which won first prizes in a show 

 on October 3rd. I do not recommend such late 

 planting, however, where one desires roots for 



