16 CULTIVATION 
The distance dahlia plants should be from one 
another varies with the variety, and somewhat according 
to the purpose of the planting. In the home garden 
rows four feet apart, the single plants two and a half 
feet from one another in the row, is entirely suitable. 
A triangular group of three as nearly two and a half 
feet apart as possible, with a little space for light and 
air between them and shrubs or other mass plantings is 
an attractive decorative planting for the garden. Vari- 
eties catalogued as making very large plants should 
have four feet between each plant, and five feet will be 
better, if convenience of cultivation and easy access 
for cutting flowers is desired, and there is ground enough 
to afford such liberal spaces. If space in the home 
garden is limited, two feet apart in the row will do 
provided they are not crowded unduly by other plants 
on either side. Growers raising dahlias commercially 
generally have field rows about four feet apart, and 
drop the tubers at distances of eighteen inches to two 
feet in the rows, according to large or small growing 
varieties. 
Dahlia gardens are sometimes failures, but they 
are usually the gardens of beginners. Every year 
growers receive indignant letters declaring the worth- 
lessness of the tubers received. If it is a beginner that 
writes the letter you can depend upon it that the grower 
is not to blame. The most hit-or-miss planting and 
cultural methods have been used, and failure was a 
