CuUivating 101 



and branch are rich and green. The stakes are 

 now quite hidden, but — where are the flowers? 



If the weather is hot, be thankful that there 

 are no flowers. Up to the middle of August let 

 there be no flowers. If they want to come be 

 heartless and cut off the buds just as soon as they 

 appear. Maybe your neighbour's dahlias are a 

 blaze of colour and he leans across the fence and 

 relates with pride how on June 30th he cut a 

 blossom eight inches across. He looks with 

 scorn upon your green bushes, and as you listen 

 to his tale you feel very humble indeed. 



But he who laughs best laughs last. Your 

 neighbour has had a good crop at first, but each 

 week the blossoms open smaller and smaller. 

 September comes, and with cooler weather 

 flowers open more slowly. Leaves and branches 

 grow, but colour becomes less and less; and when 

 he again hangs over your fence, it is with an 

 envious rather than a scornful eye. Your gar- 

 den is a glorious mass of bloom when there is 

 little to see in his, and your dahlias are winning 

 prizes at the shows when he has nothing to 

 send. 



There is much to be done before any appear, 

 if perfect blooms are wanted. There must not 

 be too many branches from the main stalk. 

 Eight or ten of these are enough, and the main 



