412 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



colours and forms in the Cactus section : in fact, so much so that the 

 modern exhibition Cactus Dahlia bears little resemblance to its original 

 form. To obtain this, however, they lost sight of every other section 

 of the community, save the exhibitor. It will thus be seen that up 

 to a certain point they failed to note that exhibitors form the 

 smallest section of the Dahlia-growing community, and while they 

 were producing splendid flowers they were altogether neglecting the 

 Dahlia as a garden plant. If any plant could say " Save me from 

 my friends," then surely that plant is the Dahlia. 



During the past decade or so, however, new types have been 

 produced, which, while they do not perhaps appeal so much to the 

 exhibitor, who is generally very loth to change his ideas, certainly 

 do appeal to the flower-loving public, and there is abundant evidence 

 that the Dahlia is likely to become more popular in the future as a 

 decorative garden plant. I should also add, in fairness to the raisers, 

 that they are endeavouring to produce their new varieties with strong 

 erect stems ; this is, of course, a matter of time, but I feel certain 

 that soon we shall see the end of varieties with pendent stems. 



I now wish to explain the various types of the flower. 



The Show Dahlia includes all doubles with self-coloured flowers, 

 all shaded flowers, and all those having a light ground colour, with 

 a deeper shading or tipping at the edges. 



A Fancy Dahlia may be tipped or striped or both. In a tipped 

 flower each floret should have a clearly defined tip of a lighter shade. 

 A striped flower should have the markings a deeper shade than the 

 ground colour. 



Pompon Dahlias are simply miniature forms of the Show Dahlia, 

 and are too well known to require description. 



The Single Dahlia describes itself, but not, however, from an 

 exhibitor's point of view ; in the latter case the flowers must be quite 

 round in outline, with the florets overlapping. 



Now, having disposed of all the older types of the flower, we 

 come to the Cactus section. I am pleased to say here that a 

 standard of perfection has never been drawn up, for their diversity 

 of form could not be judged by a single standard. 



The Peony-flowered Dahlia is a much more modern introduction, 

 and its advent gave rise to much adverse criticism ; however, it has 

 outlived such attacks, and is now one of the most popular divisions 

 of decorative garden Dahlias. The same remarks apply with equal 

 force to the Collerette section, which have now firmly planted them- 

 selves in our gardens. The Anemone-flowered Dahlia is still in its 

 infancy, but there is abundant material for raisers to work upon and 

 so add another beautiful section of the Dahlia to our gardens. The 

 Decorative Dahlias include all those nondescript varieties that cannot 

 be placed under any of the recognized forms, and many of our most 

 useful garden Dahlias are to be found here. They include the giant 

 flowers ; the dwarf-growing varieties, sometimes called bedding 

 Dahlias ; single varieties, whose form will not allow them to be 



