November 22, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



487 



ease may spread from them faster than from any other 

 source. 



The Anthracnose, Glaeosporium venetum, is another serious 

 disease. The hyphae of this fungus do not extend from the old 

 to the new canes, as in the red rust, and if all the portions 

 could be cut away this would be an effective remedy. The 

 attacks of the fungus, however, are so indiscriminate and gen- 

 eral that in most cases the remedy is impracticable. It is hard 

 to counteract it by spraying because of the difficulty in pro- 

 tecting all portions of the cane with a coating of the material. 

 Probably the Bordeaux mixture will be found effective if the 

 spraying is begun with young plantations and the treatment 

 continued throughout the year. 



Another disease, which is probably more common than is 

 generally known, manifests itself by large knotty swellings of 

 the roots. Affected plants lose their vigor and productiveness, 

 and with our present knowledge we can only say that it will be 

 prudent to avoid setting out plants which show any such 

 swollen roots. The cause of these swellings is yet a mystery. 



Cornell University. Fred. W. Card. 



Cactus and Show Dahlias. 



FOR a full century the florists of Europe, working upon the 

 single species of Dahlia brought within their reach in 1789. 

 labored in its improvement, having, apparently, a single ideal 

 toward which they strove. The result, as shown in the double 

 Dahlia of to-day, has crowned their persistence with a rich re- 

 ward, for, as far as perfection of form and beauty of coloring 

 go, the best show Dahlias are worthy of the high admiration 

 they nearly always excite. I admire the single varieties greatly, 

 but there is one kind of beauty m the single and another in the 

 show Dahlias, and the two types are so unlike that comparison 

 between them is out of place. 



During the development of the show and fancy classes as we 

 have them now, all change that was not in the line desired was 

 regarded with disfavor, and many flowers, very beautiful in 

 themselves, were thrown away because they made no advance 

 toward the florists' ideal. This rejection would, no doubt, have 

 been persisted in unceasingly had it not been for the introduc- 

 tion, about twenty-five years ago, of a variety so novel and 



Juarez. Some of its admirers saw in its long, pointed and 

 twisted petals a resemblance to the flowers of a Cactus, and 

 from that time (lowers of this shape have been called Cac- 



Fig. 71.— Stem of White Oak sapling, showing; work of a woodpecker. — See page 483. 



beautiful that it at once found favor with all flower-lovers, and 

 became the starting-point of a new race. This was Dahlia 

 Juarezi, named in honor of the President of Mexico, Benito 



Fig. ;z. — The same stem sawed througli tlic centre. — See page 483. 



tus Dahlias. After one flower, not shaped according to the 

 florists' rules, was acknowledged to be worthy of cultivation, 

 others were introduced instead of being thrown away as for- 

 merly. For some years all these additions were included in 

 the Cactus class, but so numerous did they become as to sug- 

 gest that the carefully perfected blooms of the show and fancy 

 types would be lost among the multitudes of new flowers 

 whose only recommendation was their irregularity. 



For the last five or six years, however, the National Dahlia 

 Society of England has offered prizes for Cactus as well as for 

 the other classes of Dahlias, and specified from year to year 

 what varieties were eligible for the competition. This action 

 has purged the lists of many undesirable kinds and stimulated 

 the production of true Cactus forms having tiie characteristic 

 form of Juarezi. Cactus Dahlias are produced, from year to 

 year, as numerously as those of any other class, and the prices 

 are fully as high. Half a guinea per plant is the conventional 

 price for the year of introduction, and one Cactus form was 

 offered this year at fifteen shillings. 



No more beautiful variety than Juarezi has yet been pro- 

 duced, but it has the two faults of being very late and shy 

 blooming and of producing its flowers low, among the foliage ; 

 both of these faults still appear, as far as I have observed, in 

 all kinds of the true Cactus form, but in a much lessened de- 

 gree. Honoria, one of the oldest in this class, is still one of 

 the best ; indeed, I consider it the very best of its color, which 

 is pale yellow. The newer Robert Maher is of less pleasing 

 shape and a shyer bloomer, though somewhat stronger and 

 more decided in color. Mrs. Hawkins, another old variety, is 

 excellent at times, and again is not at all satisfactory ; when 

 the pink which tinges its yellow ground is too deep, as often 

 happens, the result is a blending into a dirty light purple, such 

 as yellow Gladioli frequently show. Of crimsons of various 

 shades there are many, some of them remarkably fine, and it 

 seems to me that the deeper the shade the better the form. It 

 is not necessary to give a long list ot them, but the purchaser 

 of Kynerith, Robert Cannell or Duke of Clarence will prob- 

 ably be pleased with his bargain. Of buff flowers of various 

 shades there are several ; Cannell's Favorite, which ought to 

 be one of the very best of them, is, with me, not full enough 

 to rank as such. Pure white flowers of the Cactus class are 

 wholly wanting, unless Mrs. Peard shall prove to be of the 

 right shape. Of this I have some doubt, however, for I re- 



