64 The Amateur's Booh of the Dahlia 



and late in November bears clusters of pure- 

 white flowers on pendulous stems. Men in Cal- 

 ifornia are trying to cross it with the herbaceous 

 varieties in order to give it colour and erect 

 stem. 



There is another variety, but newly dis- 

 covered, of this tree type. It has an upright 

 habit and bears aloft pink or white flowers of 

 large size and good substance. Most are single, 

 but some bear semi-double blooms. A gi-eat 

 future has Dahlia Maxoni; and one of these 

 days we may sit under its shade while the birds 

 are singing in the branches ! Carolina, Georgia, 

 southern Tennessee, and northern Alabama in 

 the East; parts of Texas and southern Cali- 

 fornia in the West will soon find these tree 

 dahlias bearing double flowers of exquisite form 

 and colour. But we must wait for the man 

 or woman to learn the means of doing it. I 

 doubt if ever the North will see a tree dahlia in 

 bloom except under glass. 



Then there comes the matter of fragrance. 

 A very few peony-type dahlias have a faint 

 fragrance, slightly resembling that of a water 

 lily. Their seedlings seldom do, though there 

 is no reason why, by careful selection, the fourth 

 or fifth generations of fragrant parents might 

 not give a really perfumed flower. 



