96 



has no supply of organizable matter on which to 

 draw ; and these cuttings will produce plants in a still 

 further stage of debility. 



If these statements are rightly understood, they 

 will he found to explain some things that the buyers 

 of dahlias do not seem to be aware of. Many an 

 honest nurseryman has been regarded with suspicion 

 by his customers, because the dahlia plants that he 

 has sold have not answered to sample ; in other 

 words, because they have produced flowers very infe- 

 rior to those of the variety they have been sold for. 

 And yet, in reality, the vendor has been perfectly cor- 

 rect in his dealing, but the plants he has propagated, 

 have been debilitated by the excessive demand for 

 them. No blame can attach to a nurseryman for 

 this. When a seedling is raised, it is but a single 

 plant ; it gains prizes, is talked of, and gets into re- 

 quest ; and straightway hundreds of plants have to be 

 propagated from that one, in order to meet the 

 sudden demand which, under such circumstances, is 

 sure to arise. Of these plants, a large proportion must 

 necessarily produce bad flowers the first year; but 

 they will recover their character the second year, and 

 for that second season all reasonable florists will be 

 content to wait. (Ibid. 1841, 227.) 



