190 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ March s, isss 
good portiou of tlie exhausted soil at the front of the 
border, add fresh compost, and then peg down the Vines, 
in which they will produce a good quantity of healthy 
roots. These need not be disturbed when the lifting 
of the remaining roots is done, and will assist wonder¬ 
fully in sustaining the Vines after the lifting has been 
completed. Where the renovation of old Vines is con¬ 
templated and the entire border cannot be renewed for 
a season or two, the plan of pegging down the Vines 
as suggested is worthy of consideration. It may be 
carried out now, and in all probability will well repay 
for the time and trouble devoted to the work. 
Whatever may be urged against the extension of 
lateral growths in Vine culture, it will be found that a 
liberal growth of the laterals is one of the best systems 
that can be practised with newly lifted Vines, or of Vines 
pegged down prior to lifting as described. Without a 
good development of foliage it is impossible to obtain 
abundance of roots, which are of vital importance in 
recruiting the energies and restoring the lost vigour of 
exhausted Vines. It is not difficult to achieve success¬ 
ful results in renovating old Vines if only the work is 
carried out with care and the after treatment conducted 
judiciously and intelligently.—W. Bardney. 
GARDENERS AS SERVANTS. 
Some correspondence which has appeared in the morning 
papers since we last wrote upon this subject a fortnight back 
seems to indicate that the revenue authorities are endeavouring 
to exact the uttermost farthing in the matter of taxing male 
servants. 
The question is by no means a new one. As far back as 
1854 and 1855 it was debated whether the terms of the Act 
then in force (1G and 17 Vic., cap. 90) included labourers 
occasionally employed as gardeners in the ;tax imposed on 
gardeners or under gardeners. 
Several decisions bearing upon the point will be found in 
vol. xv. of the Cottage Gardener , page 387. The Commis¬ 
sioners of Land and Assessed Taxes and the Judges differed 
as to the construction of the Act above mentioned. 
On the 3rd of March, 185G, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
in reply to a question put by Col. Harcourt, stated that “ he 
understood that the construction which had been adopted by 
the revenue department was this, that persons who were regu¬ 
larly employed for a whole year, and who were under the 
direction of a head gardener, should bo regarded as under 
gardeners ; but that persons who were only casually employed, 
and who were engaged in such duties as might be performed 
by common labourers—as, for instance, in mowing grass or in 
keeping gravel walks in order, were not to be deemed under 
gardeners.”— (Times, March 4th, 1856). 
This construction would seem to have been the reasonable 
one upon the wording of the old Acts, and it is in accord with 
our opinion expressed in our issue of 22nd Feb., page 160, 
as to the true construction of the new Acts, the first of 
which (the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1869) in 
fact repealed the old Act as to gardeners, and brought 
them within the general definition of persons taxable as male 
servants. 
The more we consider the matter the more we are surprised 
that such a decision as that arrived at by Mr. Cooke on Capt. 
Patton’s case should have been given. If that decision be 
correct, anyone employing a person even for a day to assist 
in a garden is liable to have proceedings instituted against him 
for not having procured a license. 
This is absurd upon the face of it. Having suburban gar¬ 
dens put into order occasionally would become an expensive 
operation if, in addition to the wages paid for the man em¬ 
ployed, it were necessary to procure a 15s. license before the 
two or three days' work could be legitimately undertaken. 
This can never have been intended, and if Mr. Cooke’s de¬ 
cision be good law we can only commend the matter to the 
attention of the legislature, and express an earnest hope that 
a short Act will be passed as soon as possible, clearly defining 
the position of employers of labour in this respect. 
We trust that a decision of the Court of Appeal to which 
Capt. Patton's or some similar case will doubtless be taken ere 
long, will be such as to render any further legislation upon the 
subject unnecessary. 
SINGLE DAHLIAS—RAISING THEM FROM SEED. 
So-called double Dahlias have long been favourites with 
the florists, and their beauty has added greatly to the attrac¬ 
tions of many a horticultural exhibition. It is not, however, 
my intention to consider the history of these now, as that was 
fully discussed last year in the Journal (page 315, vol. iv.), 
and I now propose referring to the single forms. Fashion 
threatens the dethronement of the double forms to some extent 
in popular favour and to patronise the single Dahlia in their 
stead. We do not, however, desire to see, neither do we anti¬ 
cipate, a marked decline in the cultivation of the double 
varieties. Both are worthy the cultivator’s care ; and if, as 
we may hazard the prediction, a more extended growth of the 
single kinds may lead eventually to the production of double 
flowers with flat imbricated florets, we shall hail their advent 
with satisfaction. 
Until a comparatively recent date single Dahlias were to be 
found almost exclusively^ in bo'anical collections, and their 
merits as decorative plants easy of cultivation have not been 
recognised or sufficiently appreciated either by professional 
gardeners or amateurs. "They are now fully to the fore, and 
amongst those who have taken a more than ordinary interest 
in their cultiva ion, and who have been successful in raising- 
new varieties of merit, I may mention the worthy Curators of 
the Oxford and Chelsea Botanic Gardens. In the former 
garden most of the oldest kinds have been in cultivation since 
the date of their introduction, and where numbers of plants 
we could mention, supposed to have been lost to cultivators, 
have been found, much to the satisfaction of eminent botanists. 
The groups of Dahlia coccinea that have for many y r ears 
adorned a series of circular beds in the Oxford garden with 
their profusion of richly'- coloured flowers have well illustrated 
the fitness of this class of plants for more general use, espe¬ 
cially where cut flowers are in demand. The kinds that I have 
noted here, from which large numbers of seedlings have been 
raised, are D. Cervantesi, D. mexicana, D. gracilis, D. Merckii, 
D. alba, D. scapigera, and D. Paragon, as well as a few T others 
that it is not necessary to mention. 
The seedling plants obtained from D. gracilis are character¬ 
ised by the elegant foliage and neat habit of growth of their 
parent, and can be thus readily distinguished from the off 
spring of any of the others, but the range of colours produced 
from this sort so far is only limited. This latter remark also 
applies to those of D. Cervantesi and D. mexicana, both of 
which produce medium-sized flowers, having for the most part 
broad well-rounded florets. The old and generally admired 
D. Paragon, in addition to being a sportive kind, has established 
its fame as a prolific parent of purple or maroon-coloured 
flowers of many beautiful hues. Of D. scapigera, an exceed¬ 
ingly pretty and moreover very distinct sort, there are two or 
three forms, all having small florets of somewhat diaphanous 
texture, which are slightly cupped, and are of a delicate mauve 
tint shaded with purplish lilac ; the most desirable, as we 
think, being the one with flowers measuring 1^ inch in dia¬ 
meter, and notable as being of the deepest colour. 
D. alba and D. Merckii are varieties that should not escape 
the attention of those who do not already possess them. They 
both produce pure white flowers, which render them most 
attractive objects in the flower garden, and their cut blooms are 
invaluable for table decoration. The former variety appears 
to have been so far an especial favourite as to have acquired 
from different growers several other names, while the latter is 
a comparatively scarce sort. Considerable interest, it will be 
seen, is centred in these two Dahlias, when we mention that 
it is from them that Mr. W. H. Baxter has succeeded in raising 
seedlings that are the parents of many of his most beautiful 
