1 2 The Dahlia 



race of Fancy Dahlias has descended. Of this we 

 may be certain that the earliest forms of the Fancy 

 Dahlia came from the Continent. 



Two or more colours are necessary to a Fancy 

 Dahlia. There are striped and there are tipped 

 varieties, but the latter are occasionally striped also. 

 In the case of the edged Show Dahlia, the colour on 

 the petal edges is always darker than the ground ; in 

 the Fancy Dahlia the reverse holds good. Thus, a 

 white, yellow, or any pale ground flower, edged or 

 laced with a dark colour, after the manner of the 

 Picotee, is simply an edged or laced Show Dahlia ; 

 but when the disposition of these colours is reversed, 

 when the petals of a dark or yellow ground flower 

 are tipped with a light colour, as, for instance, Mrs. 

 Saunders, which is yellow tipped with white ; of 

 Peacock, which is crimson tipped with white, the 

 variety is regarded as a Fancy Dahlia. When the 

 ground colour is light, with a dark edging, as in the 

 case of Miss Cannell, it is a Show Dahlia. Striped 

 flowers, no matter what the ground colour may be, are 

 always Fancy Dahlias. All the best Fancy Dahlias 

 produced within the last twenty years have been of 

 English origin. It is the custom at some small 

 country flower-shows to admit all tipped and edged 

 Dahlias as Fancy Dahlias ; but this is invariably 

 permitted by judges who are imperfectly acquainted 

 with the technical distinction between the two types. 



THE POMPON OR BOUQUET DAHLIA 



This type, of which we have so many beautiful 

 varieties in the present day, is of German origin, and 



