150 The Amateur s Book of the Dahlia 



on them still and the sun's hot rays should not 

 have touched them. Have a bucket of clean, 

 freshly drawn water at hand. Cut the stems 

 as long as possible; pull off the lower leaves so 

 that none may go into the water, and plunge the 

 stems into it immediately. Large dahlias should 

 be cut with stems never less than eighteen inches 

 long, and would look better if they were four 

 feet. The singles and pompons should have 

 stems proportionate. One day I unconsciously 

 found myself, when arranging dahlias in their 

 vases, calculating the stems at three and a half 

 times the diameter of the bloom which happens 

 to be its own circumference also ! 



Bring the dahlias into a cool dark room for a 

 few hours, to recover from the shock, and they 

 may then be arranged for the house decoration, 

 or for packing and shipping. The open-centred 

 ones droop more quickly than those which are 

 full petalled. The singles last only a few days, 

 as a rule, and the collarettes but a day longer. 

 Peony dahlias with strong stems seem to hold 

 their petals longer than the graceful ones with 

 flexible stems. The varieties with upright habit 

 of growth, such as Insulinde, Princess Pat, 

 Ballon, and J. Harrison Dick, seem to last longer 

 both on the plant and in water than any of the 

 others. 



