East Bridgewater Dahlia Cardens ]. K. Alexander , East Bridgewater , Massachusetts 
Cactus Dahlias 
The greatest and most phenomenal type of all 
Dahlias; showing the most remarkable develop¬ 
ment, and being far superior to the other classes. 
My collection of Cactus Dahlias is the finest and 
most up-to-date in existence; the result of a careful 
selection of the introductions of every Dahlia spe¬ 
cialist and hybridizer; in reality the very cream of 
the Cactus Dahlia-world. We import Dahlias from 
all over the world, testing in our trial grounds sev¬ 
eral thousand. The following varieties have with¬ 
stood our ordeals ; as to quality, ability to flower, 
and general perfection. 
Sincerely believing the time has come when 
there should be a distinction between the differ¬ 
ent types of Cactus Dahlia, I take this opportunity 
to divide the Cactus Dahlia into three classes. The 
Incurved Cactus, The Straight-petaled Cactus, and 
The Hybrid Cactus. The very fact that the term 
Cactus Dahlia is deceiving, leads me to make this 
distinction. It is so general, and the shape so dif¬ 
ferent, that I think it best to make a more definite 
division. In the exhibition hall, the Cactus Dahlia 
is the cause of considerable discussion; we claim we 
should distinguish the modern incurved and tightly 
quilled Cactus from the broad, flat-petaled Hybrid 
Cactus, that they are of higher quality, and not in 
the same class. That in judging, the type should 
be considered, and where they are all classed as 
Cactus Dahlias, they are upon the same equal; 
while in reality they are far from it. .With the 
following divisions, there is sufficient distinction, to 
warrant the classification and exhibiting of each 
variety in their individual class. 
The Incurved Cactus Dahlia; those with quilled 
and incurved petals or florets; the Straight-petaled 
Cactus Dahlia, the quilled straight-petaled Cactus, 
the Hybrid Cactus Dahlia, with broad, straight, 
slightly quilled and pointed petals. 
The Incurved Cactus Dahlia 
The wonderful advances in the development of 
the Cactus Dahlia during the past two or three 
years, has been so great that it has changed the 
“old-fashioned” straight-petaled Cactus Dahlia far 
beyond our realization. 
Instead of the broad, straight-quilled Cactus 
Dahlia, which was a great revelation twenty years 
ago, we have a Cactus Dahlia resembling the 
Chrysanthemum. 
Cactus Dahlias with very narrow tightly-quilled 
petals, showing an inclination to become clutched 
or incurved ; more improved forms, with long, very 
tightly-quilled, narrow petals, which are so grace¬ 
fully and effectively incurved, twisted, and inter¬ 
Nantwlch—Incurved Cactus Dahlia. 
Incurved Cactus Type. 
laced, as to almost meet at the center; and a few 
varieties which have reached still greater perfec¬ 
tion, in addition to having very long, narrow 
petals, and being tightly quilled, incurved, twisted 
and interlaced; they are irregularly whorled and 
re-twisted, giving a most unique appearance— 
fairly outrivaling the Chrysanthemum. 
Alexander’s New Incurved 
: Cactus Seedlings for 
1916 
I take great pleasure in offering these two new 
varieties of my own raising, and place them upon 
the market with my very highest 
recommendation. They are the. re¬ 
sult of very careful hybridization, 
and were pronounced by all who saw 
them as Dahlias of very highest 
quality, showing a distinct improve¬ 
ment over many existing varieties. 
Both possess gigantic size, and are 
exceptionally free-flowering, two 
remarkable qualities. They are 
of the very highest type of the 
Incurved Cactus Dahlia, being 
very tightly quilled and incurved, 
and are deserving of a prominent 
place in every collection. 
I will ship these two excep¬ 
tionally good Incurved Cactus 
Seedlings, prepaid, to any part 
of the United States for $5.00, 
and guarantee they will give you 
satisfaction. 
J. Herbert Alexander. Wonder¬ 
ful New Incurved Cactus Seed¬ 
ling. We can rightly term this a 
model Dahlia. After thoroughly 
testing this new Dahlia, and finding 
it one of the most satisfactory varie¬ 
ties in existence, I deem it worthy 
of bearing the name of my son. 
The plants have an upright, pleas¬ 
ing style of growth, being very 
strong and sturdy, and producing 
their blossoms upon long, perfect 
stems, well above the foliage. The 
flowers are of gigantic size, the first 
flower this last season being almost 
eight inches in diameter, and con¬ 
tinuing to produce good-sized flow¬ 
ers throughout the entire season. 
The freedom with which the flowers 
are produced is exceptional, the 
plants being literally covered with 
flowers, from July until frost, which 
Good Example of the 
(See page 8.) 
7 
