468 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



for the approval of those who dispense the certificates and awards of 

 merit of the R.H.S. or of the National Dahlia Society. How long this 

 will continue to be the case I am not prepared to say, but the beginning, 

 the most critical stage of the development, has, I repeat, been entirely 

 British. 



Coming now to the origin of the Cactus Dahlia, our minds will quite 

 naturally turn to the species Drt/t/irt Juarezii, which is universally thought 

 to be the one great forerunner of all the Cactus Dahlias met with to-day. 

 I am quite prepared to admit that, but for the introduction of D. Juarezii, 

 the great section we are considering would probably as yet be non-existent ; 

 but I hope later on to show that every Cactus Dahlia is not wholly and 

 solely the progeny of Juarezii. 



When D. Juarezii was first introduced to this country, considerable 

 doubt was expressed as to what species it was and where it came from ; 

 but, as we shall presently see, it was introduced into Europe in the year 

 1872, being sent to Holland from Mexico in the autumn of that year. I 

 myself first met with it in France in 1876 under the unsavoury name of 

 * p]toile dn Diable,' the name having, I expect, been suggested to the 

 French mind by its dazzling fiery colour. I little thought then that it 

 was destined to play such an important role in the evolution of my old 

 friend the Dahlia, in whose company I had from infancy been reared, and 

 which I often think was the object of quite as much care and solicitude 

 as I myself was, notwithstanding I am an only son. Dahlia-growers of 

 to-day have but little idea what thought and attention were bestowed on 

 l^ahlia-growing and Dahlia-raising fifty years ago. 



1). Juarezii, then, was first brought into prominence in 1879, when it 

 was figured in the Gardeners' Chronicle of October 4, and the following 

 paragraph appeared in the same issue : — 



" At one of the recent meetings of the Royal Horticultural Society, 

 considerable interest was attracted to a remarkable Dahlia exhibited by 

 Mr. Cannell under the name of ' Cactus Dahlia.' In the Dahlia as 

 ordinarily seen, the florets are rolled up so as to resemble short quills, but 

 in the present case the florets are all flat or nearly so, strap-shaped, and 

 of a rich crimson colour." 



The plants from which these fiowers were taken appear to have been 

 introduced from Holland by Mr. W. H. Cullingford, who passed them on 

 to Mr. Cannell. 



All doubt as to how the plant came to Europe from Mexico seems to 

 be set at rest by the following letter which a^^peared in the Dutch Journal 

 Semimrvircns. The writer, Heer J. T. Yander Berg, of Juxphaas, near 

 Utrecht, says: — 



" I was agreeably surprised to see in the Gardeners' Chronicle of 

 October 4 an illustration of an old acquaintance of mine, Dahlia Juarezii, 

 and still more surprised to see that little is known of the origin of it. In the 

 autumn of 1872 a friend of mine in Mexico sent me a small case containing 

 various kinds of seeds and roots. They arrived in poor condition, the seeds 

 mixed and the roots rotten. However, I kept all that were any good and 

 carefully awaited the result. At last a tender shoot developed itself, 

 which proved to be a Dahlia. Cuttings of this were taken, and the few 

 yoimg plants thus obtained were planted out in June (this would be in 



