106 The Amateur's Book of the Dahlia 



exhibition blooms are wanted indeed, twice a 

 day is better if one has the time, for during the 

 height of the blooming season the side shoots will 

 appear in two or three hours. The smaller they 

 are when broken or "rubbed" off, the better. So 

 much more strength is saved for size and beauty 

 of the terminal bloom. 



Though the plants are exacting, the work is 

 anything but drudgery. It takes but an hour a 

 day, and sometimes less, to go over my 500 plants. 

 Each bud becomes an intimate friend as I watch 

 it develop day by day; and the satisfaction when 

 I cut the perfect bloom, opened to its fullest 

 glory, is the satisfaction of one who has finished 

 a beautiful painting. 



One day not long ago some friends motored out 

 from town to see the dahlias. Of course, they 

 found me among them, up a stepladder, dis- 

 budding some of the tall ones. When I showed 

 them how it was done they chorused "Oh! let 

 me try!" which they did. I was called to the 

 telephone. Then other visitors came and had to 

 be shown around. I had almost forgotten my 

 first guests for nearly an hour, but when I re- 

 turned to them, there they were disbudding 

 with all the keen interest of professionals. The 

 thought of Tom Sawyer and the whitewashed 

 fence came to my mind. The work was fun! 



