86 PIOTORIAL PBAGTIGAL BULB GROWING. 



CDapter XXVI — DaDlias* 



We liear tlie hypercritical person saying that it is ciuite wrong to 

 include Dalilias in this series of articles, as their roots are not bulbs 

 at all, but tubers. This is, of course, perfectly true, but it is also 

 beyond refutation that to the amateur the differences between 

 bulbs, tubers, and corms are hazily understood, and those who do 

 comprehend them admit that it is the Howers they ^vant, and 

 wdiether they are produced from this form of root or that does not 

 mrdve an iota of difrerence. The fact that the portion of the stem ot 

 their Dahlias which is buried beneath the soil swells up and is 

 thenceforth called a tuber has small interest to them in comparison 

 with the best methods to induce the plants to bring flowers to 

 perfection, either for their own enjoyment in the garden or for 

 exhibition. 



Both as an exhibition and a garden flower the Dahlia has seen 

 many changes, and has probably fluctuated more in. general esteem 

 than any of our hardy or half-hardy plants. During the days of 

 the rage for formality in the garden, as in everything else, the 

 Show and Fancy Dahlias had an extraordinary vogue, and there 

 were, gatherings in their honour from one end of the country to 

 the other. Then came the inevitable change in fashion, and the 

 supremacy of the Dahlia had a rude shaking. Again there came the 

 rise and the fall, until now we And the family at a height of popularity 

 above which it is not likely to rise very much, and from which it is 

 scarcely probaV>le that it will fall. 



It may, we think, be safely said that the present position on a 

 thoroughly firm basis is largely due to the development of the 

 Cactus section, which provides a flower of brilliant be aity without 

 the severe formality of the older florists" type. In it we have an 

 essentially garden flower as well as an exhibition one ; hence its 

 liigh position in public esteem at the present da}^, when the demand 

 for beauty in the garden is greater than it ever was before. To a 

 smaller degree but still worthy of recognition in a good work, the 

 pojiularity is owing to the inception of the charming ^' Fancy singles 

 wliicli were raised in the first place by the late ^Iv. T. W. Girdlestone ; 

 they are floriferous, and there are several exijuislte colours amongst 

 them. 



Purely for garden adornment, there are many people who hold to 

 tlie opinion tliat it is impo.ssible to find a section that can comi^ete 

 with the small J^ompons, wliose freedom of flowering is little short 

 of marvellous. It is raised against them by their detractors that 

 they are equally as formal as the Show and Fancy types; but 



