NOTES ON THE DAHLIA. 
93 
trimmed must be cleared off, and it may be 
advisable to cut off the side branches a little 
higher up ; and if the heads touch one ano- 
ther, they may be replanted, giving them a 
little more room, but still keeping them what 
may be called close, as compared with the 
distances at which we should grow shrubs. 
After the third year's growth, they may be 
planted three feet apart every way ; and pruned 
for the growth of the head, cutting the lower 
branches up to the proper height, or as far as 
will only leave the head ; but the top or lead- 
ing branch must not be stopped, until you 
have the stem as long as you require, by 
cutting up the side branches a little every year. 
"When the stem is long enough, you may cut 
off the leader, and trim up four or five shoots 
to form the head, shortening them to four or 
five joints each. When the lateral shoots 
start, rub off any that are not wanted, or that 
will be in the way of others, and allow the rest 
to grow. The head will be handsome in one 
season. This will apply to any naturally 
shrubby plant. Even the Pyrus japonica, 
the least manageable of any, and the laurus- 
tinus, which is but little better, will make 
handsome standards. 
VARIEGATED LEAVES. 
VaPvIOUS are the speculations on the pro- 
duction of thi.s curious feature in plants : some 
will pretend to find a cause in sickness ; but 
we are not disposed to follow speculation. We 
may quite as sensibly attribute the notches 
and serratures of some foliage to blights in 
their parts, as attribute the colour or Avant of 
colour to ill-health. It is quite certain that 
trees will occasionally throw out branches with 
variegated leaves, and that cuttings or grafts 
from such parts will perpetuate the character. 
But there are hollies variegated in many 
different ways ; some have the white or yellow 
in the middle, some on the edges or margins ; 
and these are as constant as need be, thousands 
upon thousands of all the different varieties 
being propagated every year without their 
running away from their sorts. Camellias 
will sometimes throw out a branch with varie- 
gated or blotched leaves, but particularly 
Camellia reticulata. We have seen these 
variegated or blotched parts worked, and the 
plant continue blotched, nor does the plant 
indicate weakness or bad health, or give a less 
or poorer flower. These sports of nature 
may be caused by some known agency, but 
we have seen nothing written, and heard 
nothing said, that brought us to any rational 
conclusion except contrary to that which 
writers have attempted to prove. It would 
be quite as profitable to inquire into the diffe- 
rent colours of flowers and their causes, the 
different shapes of fruit and the causes, the 
different nature of plants and the causes, as it 
is to waste time, and speculate on the causes of 
variegation in the colours of leaves. The 
great Giver of all good things has created 
plants and animals of endless variety of forms. 
Every day adds to the number of discovered 
plants, and nobody doubts their origin. They 
are different from those we already have, and 
excite admiration without setting us all won- 
dering about what caused the difference. We 
hold variegated leaves to be as distinct in 
their nature as any other difference that may 
be discovered, but no tribe is more distin- 
guished in this particular than the holly, and 
the variegated leaved sorts grow quite as 
vigorously as the same sorts plain. The 
seeds of the variegated kinds, however, bring 
only the common sort in a general way, the 
same as apple pips bring the crab stock ; any 
thing better are exceptions and not the rule. 
The best way to treat any desirable sport of 
nature is to graft or bud it directly. In this 
way some variegated subjects have been ob- 
tained, but the regularity and uniformity of 
the variegated geraniums, hollies, rhododen- 
drons, and their vigorous and healthy growth, 
put all the speculations about sickness being 
the cause completely on one side. 
NOTES ON THE DAHLIA. 
A FEW hints to young exhibitors may be 
useful, and prevent their falling into errors 
of imitation. We see in the leading dahlia- 
growers' gardens an immense number of shades 
which completely destroy the beauty of the 
scene, but which are considered necessary for 
the production of first-rate flowers. Little 
wooden tables, just large enough to hold a 
pot, are placed by the side of the plant. These 
tables have holes in the middle, and a slit from 
one side to the centre, for the purpose of 
passing the stem of the promising bud to the 
centre, where it is fixed, as it were, by filling 
the slit and round the stem under the bud. 
Thus is formed a flat table, and the bud fixed 
in the centre, just enough above to allow of 
its full development. The cover to this bud 
should be flat on the edge, so that on being 
placed on the table no earwig can get under. 
This is, in truth, the greatest service that the 
cover renders ; but even this is at the cost of 
another advantage : the flower is deprived of 
the night air, which in August, and until the 
frosts set in a little, is most beneficial. We 
have seen covers like iron mousetraps, formed 
of closely woven wire, which keep out the 
vermin without excluding air ; and covers like 
flower-pots without a bottom, but a groove 
round, so that pieces of glass are dropped on 
to admit lij^ht without losing the benefit of air. 
