72 The Amateur's Book of the Dahlia 



mother flower has been depoUinated and dried, 

 apply at once. Use a camel's hair brush which 

 has been dipped in sugary water and pressed 

 flat and smooth. The pollen is easily lifted from 

 the watch glass and deposited upon the stigma. 

 See that every part of each pistil is well coated 

 with pollen, and bag the flower at once, so that 

 no other pollen may reach it. Next day, and 

 for two days more, this process may be repeated 

 as each ring of florets expands in turn, if many 

 seeds are needed. It may be necessary to cut 

 a new pollen bearer each time as there is some 

 doubt as to the fertility of the pollen, and the 

 vitality of the resulting seed, if the flower stands 

 long in water. Bag the flower each time and 

 allow the bag to remain until the seed pod begins 

 to form. Pull off the petals directly they begin 

 to fade so that the seeds in the pod receive all 

 the strength and vitality possible. 



If it should not be convenient to gather the 

 pollen and apply with a brush, excellent results 

 can be obtained by merely touching the two 

 flowers together so that the pollen may be 

 brushed off from one directly upon the other. 

 This is diflScult, however, if the pollen bearer 

 is a fuU-petalled flower with the stamens deep 

 in the centre, unless some of the central petals 

 are carefully removed the day before. 



