To make your flowers last longer, cut the flowers in the evening, 
and plunge the stems into hot water for a few minutes, afterward 
into cool water. Put them away in a cool cellar for the night. Arrange 
in the morning and your flowers will last several days. 
Of course Dahhas have a few pests, but I think very few. I am not 
troubled with any, and I think one reason why mi^e are so healthy is 
because I spray the foliage nearly every evening, and they are kept 
clean. The cut worm works under groiind so you can not keep him 
washed off, but to catch him soak the ground with ''Vermine" before 
your tubers are set out. It only takes six tablespoonfuls to twelve 
quarts of water, and should be applied on a rainy day. Then there is 
a borer that forces his way up through the stalk. To catch him, plug 
up his entrance with some cotton, make a solution of Paris Green, 
and through a small opening on the uppermost part of the stalk, made 
with a small oil-can, let the solution run down the stalk. Let it remain 
fifteen minutes, then remove the cotton. The poison will run out 
leaving the borer dead. 
The White Fly stunts the growth of the plant and the leaves turn 
yellow. To get rid of him, cut your plant back within an inch of the 
ground, mulch with well decayed stable manure, and keep moist. 
Late in October, when the faithful plants are through blooming, 
they must have a good touch of frost before the tops are cut off. Then 
dig up the bulbs Carefully on a clear day, let them dry in the sun for 
half a day, then store thern in a box and cover with earth. Keep 
them air tight and prevent them from shrivelhng, and your bulbs 
will be ready for the next season and give you as good flowers as ever. 
The Dahlia Hybridizing of Mrs. Samuel H. Taft 
Jane H. Anderson, Garden Club of Cincinnati 
Now|that the war is over and people can once more devote a part 
of their time to flowers, I would hke to give to the members of the 
Garden Club, through the Bulletin, a short account of the really 
wonderful success achieved in the cultivation of Dahlias by Mrs. 
Samuel H. Taft, the President of the Cincinnati Garden Club. 
Mrs. Taft is such an ardent lover of flowers that she succeeds with 
all flowers, but her greatest successes have been with Dahlias. She 
not only thoroughly understands the cultivation, fertilizing, dis- 
budding and pruning of this plant, but has been highly successful as a 
hybridizer. 
I will give below a hst and description of Mrs. Taft's best seedUngs, 
but I wish my readers could see these flowers in all their magnificence. 
i6 
