The Dahlia in America 109 



appreciation, and indeed was saved from oblivion only 

 because of the interest that attached itself to a plant 

 that had the associations of childhood's days to keep 

 it fresh in the mind. For several years this period of 

 desuetude endured, and it was in March of 1895 that 

 the revival movement became active in the forma- 

 tion of the American Dahlia Society in Philadelphia. 

 Interest was aroused, and the Dahlia once more came 

 into a prominent place among Flora's gems. From 

 this date can be counted the era of the modern Dahlia 

 cult in Eastern America. The organisation itself, 

 however, soon became moribund, and after enduring a 

 struggling existence was formally dissolved at a meeting 

 in New York in 1901. Strange to say, simultaneously 

 with the dissolution of the society a very intense 

 interest in the Dahlia spread more widely than ever, 

 and a New York gentleman, Mr. J. W. Withers, who 

 had been growing a small collection for a few years, 

 struck upon a cultural detail that materially increased 

 the chances of the future of the Dahlia as a garden 

 plant in this climate. 



The one reason why the Dahlia had not held its 

 own in this country was perhaps the uncertainty of 

 flowering properly, and which peculiarity appeared to 

 baffle all the modern cultivators except those who 

 had some particular location which just suited the 

 plant. It was so with Mr. L. K. Peacock, at Atco, 

 N.J., and from the ease with which he produced really 

 first-class blooms in abundance, it seemed that other 

 growers who tried the plant and found it wanting 

 were negligent of its wants. But just what those 

 wants were was an evasive problem. His soil was a 

 pure white sand, poor and dry. In New England 



