BULBOUS FLOWERS 103 



in July or very early, the best plants for the purpose are old 

 stools, which should be divided as small as possible ; or per- 

 haps better still, pot tubers, which are obtainable in the early 

 spring months. These flower earlier than plants produced 

 from cuttings, though the individual flowers are not so perfect, 

 and, generally speaking, the double forms are liable to produce 

 semi-double flowers ; but for colour effect this is immaterial. 

 Paeony-flowered Dahlias are very useful. The individual 

 flowers may not be perfect in form, but as a mass of colour 

 they are perfect. Even the double or show varieties produce 

 wonderful colour effects when growing in masses. Where 

 whole beds are devoted to them, only one variety should be 

 grown in each bed, so that they are uniform in height and 

 habit. Just a few of the best decorative kinds are : Kaiserin 

 Augusta Victoria, not the Paeony-flowered variety, but a 

 pure white decorative kind that grows about 2 feet to 

 3 feet high. This has been largely used at Kew and other 

 places, and is always greatly admired (see illustrations). Pure 

 pink is not often seen in the Dahlia, but we have it in 

 the decorative variety Delice. This is a good sturdy grower 

 that flowers on stiff stems well above the foliage. Massed 

 in numbers the effect is perfectly charming. Scarlet is 

 always admired, especially in the autumn months. Here 

 we have the Cactus variety Amos Perry, which is still 

 unsurpassed in its colour and habit ; while the best white 

 variety in this section is undoubtedly White Ensign, for it 

 produces its white blossoms well above the foliage on fine stiff 

 stems, which cannot be said of any other white Cactus I know. 

 Garden Yellow is the best of its colour in this section, though 

 Caradoc runs it very closely. In mauve shades Mauve Queen 

 can be recommended. Perhaps the best crimson for our 

 purpose is Conquest. This is very rich, with a splendid habit. 

 The finest of the very dark forms is still the old variety J. H. 

 Jackson. In bright crimsons Mary Purrier is quite the best. 

 In cases where dwarf colour effects are desired, the bedding 

 double varieties produce splendid masses of colour. They 

 rarely exceed 2 feet high. Marguerite Bruant and White 

 Bedder are both good whites. King of Dwarfs is a good 

 purple. Flora Macdonald can be recommended as a fine 

 yellow, while Rising Sun produces masses of scarlet flowers. 

 The Paeony-flowered varieties have not been noted for their 

 habit, because the flowers are so heavy. They have a ten- 

 dency to hang down, but it is only a matter of time before we 

 shall have varieties with excellent stems. At the present time 

 a few of the best sorts are Bayard (red and yellow), Mrs. J. B. 



