OFTHEDAHLIA 19 
for more than thirty years. Cultivation is the secret 
of his success. The soil is never allowed to cake and 
bake, dry out by capillary attraction to a hard, caked 
surface. Fertilizers are used in moderation; pinching 
back and disbudding are practiced. 
A certain garden lover invited a friend and showed 
him with manifest pride one of the finest kitchen gardens 
it has ever been anyone's good fortune to look upon. 
There was a splendid plot of tomatoes, planted widely 
apart; the lima beans were carefully thinned, only four 
to a pole, the corn was spaced and thinned right, and 
everything was exceedingly flourishing and fruitful. 
Over on one side of the lawn were the dahlias, close to 
a wire fence marking the boundary of the property. 
The wire fence allowed light and air enough for the 
dahlias, and on one side was the smooth lawn. The 
dahlias were planted very close to the fence, and less 
than six inches from them, on the adjoining property, 
was a tangle of tall grass and weeds, greedily sucking 
up moisture and plant food from the dahlias by their 
far-flung network of roots. No attempt was made to 
keep up a dust mulch, and prevent evaporation from 
the soil surface of the precious moisture below. The 
gardener was justly proud of his fruitful, luxuriant 
vegetable garden, and knew why he had a right to be. 
He never would have reason to be proud of his dahlias. 
He may even believe that he was sold weak and run- 
out stock. 
