WM. VAN der OSTEN 8c SON 



HAY, STRAW, GRAIN 

 AND POULTRY SUPPLIES 



GRASS SEED, 



FERTILIZER, BONE MEAL 



WEEDLESS SHEEP MANURE, 



BABY CHICKS 



1106 FOREST AVENUE 



WEST NEW BRIGHTON 



Phone 881 P. R. West New Brighton 



WHAT IS A SEEDLING 

 By George L. Stillman 



WESTERLY, R. I. 



There has been quite a little discussion as to what really should 

 be termed a seedling dahlia. To my mind there is but one answer. 

 It is this — a dahlia plant produced directly from the seed is a seed- 

 ling, and nothing else should be termed a seedling unless the year 

 in which it was produced from seed is specified at the same time. 



If it was grown in 1925 from seed it is a seedling until 1926 ; 

 then it should be spoken of as a seedling of 1925 and if grown from 

 seed in 1924 it should be termed a seedling of 1924 and so on. It 

 matters not whether it has been given a name or not it should 

 never be grown in the trial grounds as a 'seedling' when it was 

 produced from seed the year previous. If it is grown there as a 

 seedling the year should always be specified in w r hich it was pro- 

 duced. 



It thus becomes an established fact that a seedling cannot be 

 grown in the trial grounds unless it is entered in the form of a 

 plant and that is not advisable as the specimen may be entirely 

 worthless when it blooms. But bulbs or plants from seed in 1925 

 can be entered in 1926 as seedlings of 1925. Otherwise trouble 

 arises at the Fall Shows when an exhibitor shows a bunch of flowers 

 as seedlings simply because they have not been named and which 

 were produced from seed two or three years before. 



Bv this time the exhibitor should have a number of plants to 

 select blooms from while another exhibitor shows one or two flow- 

 ers of a true 'seedling' competing for the same prize. Here is 

 where unfair competition arises. It would thus appear that the 

 only fair and honorable way to proceed with the exhibition of seed- 

 lings during 1926 is to call for best seedling of one flower with long 

 stems; and best vase of unnamed seedlings of 1925, six flowers, one 

 kind, with long stems. 



I see no need of offering a prize for a dahlia as a seedb'ng over 

 two years old. If by that time it is worthy of a name it should 

 have one, or at the end of three years at the longest. 



