CHAPTER II 



EARLY DAHLIA CULTURE 



OUR dahlias owe much to the early struggles 

 of the Abbe Cavanilles. His young man- 

 hood was devoted to his Church; but his love of 

 flowers and his botanical writings led to his 

 appointment in 1801 as director of the Royal 

 Botanical Gardens in Madrid, with which he had 

 already been connected for some years. This 

 position he held until 1804, when his untimely 

 death carried away the lovable priest, one of the 

 greatest of botanists — the man who brought the 

 dahlia to the attention of the world. 



As we know, the Abbe had his first Acocotli 

 blooming in Madrid in September, 1789. He 

 managed to carry on the species by root propa- 

 gation and the ripening of seeds. We do not 

 know what colours these first flowers were. It 

 may be that more seeds were sent him a year 

 later, and that by applying the pollen of one 

 upon the other he finally succeeded in producing 

 a deep purple flower of what we now call the 



peony" type. This blossom is pictured in his 



11 



c< 



