854 
Deoember 12 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS 
Up-to-date Dahlias. —The Dahlia 
has regained much of its old-time popu¬ 
larity, and is now the leading feature of 
Autumn flower shows. It is so easy to 
grow, so certain to bloom freely under 
ordinary conditions, and so decorative 
in plant and flower that its reentrance 
in popular favor is a matter of congratu¬ 
lation. The marvelous development of 
Dahlias from the single wild form com¬ 
mon in Mexico to the elaborate beauties 
of the present has been accomplished 
within little more than a century. There 
were already named varieties by the 
thousand in 1840, but they were nearly 
all of the very double formal type, of 
which gardeners began to tire as soon 
as they had reached symmetrical per¬ 
fection. 
Tht: “Cactus” Type. —In 1879 the first 
Cactus Dahlia appeared in cultivation 
from a root imported from Mexico. The 
flower was a striking departure from 
the usual type, resembling in form and 
color the showy blooms of the Candle 
Cactus, Cereus speciosissimus. The re¬ 
lief from the excessive formalism of the 
Show and Fancy types of Dahlia flow¬ 
ers was so decided that a new interest 
at once developed in the whole group. 
The original Cactus Dahlia was given 
the specific name of D. Juarezii, though 
no duplicate of it has ever been found 
in nature. The culture of the Cactus 
type has been pursued with great ardor, 
and innumerable seedlings and hybrids, 
of all colors and intermediate forms, 
have been named and introduced. Fig. 
312, first page, reduced from a photo¬ 
graph of late English exhibition Cactus 
varieties, gives a fair idea of their make¬ 
up. Individual tastes vary so greatly 
that it is a somewhat thankless task to 
recommend special varieties, but the fol¬ 
lowing may be taken as representative 
of the main features of this attractive 
group. William Agnew, immense size, 
scarlet-crimson; Wm. Pierce, sulphur- 
yellow, very perfect; Perle d’Or, nearly 
pure white, large and fine; Clifford W. 
Bruton, immense yellow, best of its 
color; Nymphoea, delicate shrimp pink; 
Black Prince, dark velvety maroon, al¬ 
most black; Mrs. Peart, cream white; 
Rayon d’Or, bright orange and white. 
Most of the above are known as Decora¬ 
tive Dahlias, and are intermediate be¬ 
tween the true Cactus and Show sec¬ 
tions. This is now the most promising 
type of this favorite flower. 
New Single Varieties. —The original 
single-flowered wild Dahlia, D. varia- 
bilis, began to double with the earliest 
attempts at cultivation, but it required 
nearly 25 years to develop to the highly 
finished globular Show type with its' 
hundreds of regularly arranged rays or 
petals. In the course of this" striking 
evolution multitudes of handsome single 
varieties were produced, the successors 
of which may still be in cultivation. 
With the renewal of interest in Dahlia 
culture following the dissemination of 
the early Cactus forms, single flowers 
were again drawn into favor, which has 
since been well maintained. The latest 
and in many features the best of the 
single Dahlias is the Twentieth Century 
or Orchid-flowering class, the type of 
which is well shown in reduced size at 
Fig. 315, page 851. Twentieth Century 
originated on the great Dahlia farms of 
W. P. Peacock, Atco, N. J., and was first 
disseminated this year. It is particu¬ 
larly desirable in that it is not only the 
highest type of single Dahlia bloom yet 
secured, but the plant is a sturdy grow¬ 
er and an abundant and exceedingly 
early bloomer. Our specimen, grown 
from a root planted out in May, opened 
its first flowers in July, and continued 
without intermission until actual frosi 
late in October. The color in warm 
weather is clear rosy crimson with white 
tips and edges, gradually becoming 
lighter, but retaining its purity of con¬ 
trast until the zone in October is very 
delicate blush pink. The blooms at their 
best reach about seven inches in diam^ 
eter and run five or six inches across 
throughout the season. The plant 
branches freely, and needs little staking 
except In very exposed situations. As 
cut flowers the blooms are very beauti¬ 
ful, lasting longer than other singles. 
Our plant was grown on light soil and 
fairly well supplied with stable and 
chemical manures by top-dressing as 
needed througbout the season. If not 
allowed to seed Dahlias will continue 
blooming as long as nourishment in ex¬ 
cess of the needs of the plant is sup¬ 
plied. Many seedlings of Twentieth 
Century have been raised, some of which 
exceed it in size and symmetrical out¬ 
line, while differing in color. Leone is 
pure white with a faint blush band, and 
Pink Century is very large, pale rosy 
pink in color. These last varieties have 
not yet been generally disseminated. 
Fine Show and Fancy Varieite.s.— 
Probably over 4,000 Dahlia varieties 
have been named during the garden 
evolution of the plant, and new ones are 
constantly being brought forward, only 
to be soon lost to cultivation. A few 
kinds, however, are so widely appreciat¬ 
ed that they form standards and are 
needed in every collection. By far the 
greatest number of varieties belong to 
the old Show or double self-colored and 
Fancy or striped and blotched sections. 
There is also a numerous small flowered 
class known as Pompon, repeating in 
miniature the perfections of Show and 
Fancy kinds. Some of the best large 
double varieties are A. D. Livoni, soft 
pink, quilled petals; Storm King, pure 
white; Queen of Yellows, clear golden 
yellow; Model of Perfection, rosy laven¬ 
der; Crimson Ball, deep crimson; Hon¬ 
est John, deep maroon; Le Phare, scar¬ 
let; Pink Dandy, bright pink. Pompons. 
Klein Domitia, salmon; Snowclad, 
white; Sunshine, bright scarlet: Yellow 
Bird, creamy yellow; Daybreak, blush, 
white. 
Tjie Collarette Dahlia.— This is a 
much-praised novelty consisting of sin¬ 
gle flowers of some dark shade having 
a frill or collar of short white or light 
tinted rays inside the guard petals and 
next to the yellow disk. The effect is 
very striking when there is a suitable 
contrast in colors. Only two varieties. 
President Viger, blood red and white, 
and Joseph Goujon, orange red and 
canary yellow, have been generally suc¬ 
cessful. Seeds of Collarette Dahlias 
sent out by famous European seedsmen 
proved entirely unreliable when grown 
on the Rural Grounds the past two sea¬ 
sons, producing only ordinary single va¬ 
rieties with no trace of the peculiar 
light collar. Plants of the named kinds 
mentioned, propagated from cuttings or 
tubers, however, perfectly reproduce the 
parents and are very pleasing. 
A Big Dahlia Far.m.— One of the 
world’s largest Dahlia growers is W. P. 
Peacock, Atco, N. J. Years ago he an¬ 
ticipated its present wide popularity, 
and having land eminently suited to the 
needs of the plant, began its cultivation 
in a modest way, increasing his output 
as the market widened until the past 
season over 80 acres were planted to a 
collection of quite 1,000 varieties. A few 
hundred kinds, the cream of the world’s 
product, are grown in quantity to supply 
dealers, the others for the use of fan¬ 
ciers and specialists. From 100,000 to 
150,000 cut blooms are shipped daily dur¬ 
ing the season to various markets, go¬ 
ing as far north as Boston and west to 
Chicago, and single orders for tubers 
from seedsmen reach as high as 72,000. 
In order to ship the blooms to best ad¬ 
vantage the cutting force is obliged to 
hustle out In the fields by 4 A. M., in 
semi-darkness, amid drenching dews. 
They grow so tired of the work as the 
days shorten that the first frost sufficient 
to check blooming is heartily welcomed. 
Beside the trade in cut flowers and roots 
over 1,000,000 cutting plants are grown 
and shipped during the early months of 
the year. For this purpose a consider¬ 
able range of glass is maintained, which 
is utilized at other times for root stor¬ 
age and carnation growing. 
Striking the Cuttings.— Dahlias root 
freely from cuttings made of growing 
wood at almost any stage of develop¬ 
ment, but young shoots having two or 
more pairs of leaves make the best 
plants. The tubers for forcing are pack¬ 
ed in shallow trays, taking ci»re they do 
not touch, covered with two or three 
inches of light soil, and placed on the 
greenhouse benches in a temperature 
approximating 60 degrees, early in Janu¬ 
ary. As fast as the sprouts have made 
three or four pairs of leaves they are 
cut, neatly trimmed and dibbled in pure 
sand in the propagating bench, where a 
bottom heat of 65 degrees is maintained. 
They root in about two weeks and are 
then potted off and kept in cooler houses 
until sold, or later planted out. They 
make good specimens under stimulating 
culture, and are often preferred to roots 
or clumps. 
Growing Dahlias Wholesale.— The 
soil about Atco, .as in large areas of 
southern New Jersey, is mainly fine 
white sand—the remains of old ocean 
beaches. It is easily worked, and can 
be made productive by judicious man¬ 
agement for an extensive range of crops. 
Nothing could be more' suitable for 
v/holesale Dahlia culture, for with suffi¬ 
cient fertilization strong plants and vig¬ 
orous medium-weight roots are grown 
with a minimum of labor. About 20 car¬ 
loads of manure and ?1,500 worth of 
chemical fertilizers are annually needed 
to keep the soil in the right condition. 
In May the fields are plowed and fined 
in the usual way for field crops, the 
stable manure being well worked in at 
the rate of 12 to 20 tons an acre, and 
marked out in furrows 3V2 feet apart. 
The tubers or plants are set 18 to 24 
inches apart. The tubers, divided from 
the clumps so that each retains an “eye” 
or sprout, are dropped in the trench like 
potatoes and covered with the plow, 
while plants are set like tomatoes or 
peppers. The chemicals are worked in 
the drill or used as top-dressings later 
on. Cultivation is by horse and hand 
tools precisely similar to potato fields 
until the plants branch too freely to al¬ 
low passage between the rows. Flower 
cutting for market begins in August, 
and tuber harvest as soon as growth is 
checked by frost. 
Storing the Roots. —The tuber 
clumps are throwui out by the plowL 
choosing clear dry weather as far as pos¬ 
sible. A boy follow's the plow and 
shakes the roots free of loose soil. An¬ 
other, with a tree pruner, cuts the stalks 
close to the clump. When fairly dried 
off peach baskets reenforced with a 
strong wire hoop are distributed, into 
which the clumps are counted. When 
full a label is marked with name of va¬ 
riety and number of clumps contained^ 
and stuck in topmost root of each bas¬ 
ket. thus keeping a perfect tally as the 
baskets are hauled to storage. A root 
cellar, 100x16 feet, excavated six feet in 
the ground and divided into innumerable 
bins, is filled from floor to roof, and the 
space under all greenhouse benches, 
which are built unusually high to gain 
space, is also utilized. Dahlia tubers 
keep wmll undei ordinary frost-free con¬ 
ditions, but come through more plump 
and lively if the storage is reasonably 
(ool and moist. Much labor is needed, 
and there is considerable expense inci¬ 
dent to running a Dahlia farm, but 
there can be no doubt it is a satisfactory 
business in the present state of public 
demand. w. v. e. 
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Cures all species of lame- 
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in horses. Equally good 
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A veterinary speoilio for wind, 
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Strong rscommewds, $1.00 per 
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