Cultivating 107 



Some dahlias are low in growth and all parts 

 are easily reached. There are some, however, 

 which seem to possess the blood of Jack's Bean- 

 .stalk. The English JoflFre and Mrs. Lymberry's 

 Ballet Girl, for instance, climb skyward in what- 

 ever kind of soil I use. One August morning on 

 a return from a ten-day absence I found Ballet 

 Girl had achieved a height of fifteen feet. Had a 

 storm come at that time she would have whirled 

 completely out of sight. The trunk at a height 

 of five feet was too heavy for my pruning shears 

 and I had to call for man's strength and a heavy 

 knife. We cut her down more than halfway, and 

 by mid-September she had climbed again, and 

 dancing in mid-air were hundreds of fluffy blooms 

 for all the world like little tulle petticoats. 



Naturally, disbudding such gigantic plants is 

 more or less an acrobatic feat. Stepladders are 

 dangerous things to set on the soft earth unless 

 planks are placed under the feet. The most 

 convenient step to use for this purpose is a tall 

 wooden box. We cut a slit in the bottom four 

 to six inches long and an inch or so wide — ^just big 

 enough to slip the fingers in and grasp the box. 

 Two or three such boxes are in among the plants 

 in my garden, always at hand to step upon when 

 needed, and the ladder is only resorted to when 

 absolutely necessary. 



