107 
THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
by rain, the benefits of which are simply lost by its 
flowing off from the surface. It may be asked, what 
difference is there between rain water and the water in 
the land which was once rain water too ? 
The chemists of our time have given us an answer. 
They have shown, amongst other causes of difference in 
their value, that rain water contains ammonia, of which 
land water is commonly destitute. This presence of 
ammonia in rain water has been placed, as Liebig and 
others have shown, beyond all doubt. Rain water, 
on being filtered through well-drained ground, yields 
up its supply of ammonia, which is detained by the 
soil, from which it is greedily absorbed by the roots 
of plants. 
The directions of the currents which occur in wet soils 
are entirely altered by drainage; for while in undrained 
ground the currents are from below upwards, being 
produced by the force of evaporation at the surface 
(supplying the spongioles of the roots with exhausted sub¬ 
soil water), in drained ground the currents are from the 
surface to the drains, and the roots are supplied with 
fresh asrated water. 
An excess of water in the ground produces a constant 
dampness in the atmosphere above it, which is hurtful 
to plants in three ways: 
By diminishing evaporation from the plants, and ren¬ 
dering the process of assimilation slower. 
By diminishing the absolution of carbonic acid, and 
thus lessening the supply of atmospheric food. 
By creating a tendency in plants to produce leaves dif¬ 
fering in structure from those which they produce in dry 
situations.— Selected. 
RAISING SINGLE DAHLIAS FROM SEED. 
Single dahlias are becoming so fashionable, and the 
seed is so freely advertised by seedsmen, that it does not 
require any great effort to foresee that many will be at¬ 
tempting to raise seedling plants. I have therefore 
thought that I might be rendering some service to your 
readers if I gave some practical details that might assist 
those who are thinking of engaging in the business of 
raising seedlings. I feel that in some measure I am 
competent to do this, because I have raised a good many 
single dahlias from seed during the past few years. But 
if I am asked the question as to whether the business is 
likely to pay, I should not hesitate to say, No. If good 
seed can bo obtained—that is, the produce of flowers 
that were properly fertilized with pollen from others of 
distinct color, then the affair might prove a satisfactory 
investment of both money and time. But if only second- 
rate seed is to be had, then I should say the same as the 
Frenchmen, “ The game is not worth the candle.” I do 
not say this with a view to prevent any one from em¬ 
barking in the business; my object is, if possible, to pre¬ 
vent disappointment. I grew the variety named Para¬ 
gon, which is now so popular, the first year it was sent 
out, and raised a large number of seedlings from it the 
next year. Not one of these was a correct counterpart 
of the parent, or worth keeping. The next year I raised 
plants from Lulea, a single yellow variety, and also 
Coccinea, which is scarlet. The produce from these was 
a mongrel lot, not one of them worth keeping. While 
these experiments were going on, I was also workingin 
another direction. I went in for the proper thing, that is 
to say, I carefully fertilized a few flowers with pollen 
from plants of quite a distinct color. The result gave me 
great satisfaction. From the seed obtained from this 
source I secured a variety of different colored flowers, a 
few of which were worth retaining for propagating pur¬ 
poses. It strikes me that unless any one is an enthusiast 
in such matters he had better leave them alone; at all 
events, as a gardener with a multitude of other things to 
attend to, my past experience has shown that I can devote 
my time in a more profitable manner to other things. 
But the raising of single dahlias from seeds is the 
theme of this communication, and I will begin by say¬ 
ing to all those who wish to try their hand at it that it 
is by no means a difficult undertaking. The first con¬ 
sideration should be to secure the best strain of seed it is 
possible to obtain, and then the aid of a warm house or 
hotbed is necessary to bring on the plants. Very early 
sowing is not desirable: the first week in March is soon 
enough. An ordinary seed pan fourteen inches over and 
six inches deep will raise sufficient plants to stock a large 
garden. As the seed is much larger than the ordinary 
ran of flower seeds, it does not require any special care. 
A well-drained pan and ordinary potting soil will suit it 
as well as the most elaborate preparation, but a moder¬ 
ate degree of heat the seed must have, or the plants will 
be so small when the time comes that they should be 
planted out that they will do but little good the first 
year. If the seed-pan is placed in a temperature of sixty 
degrees it will do well, and the seed will vegetate in a 
few days. As soon as the plants are an inch in height, 
they must have both light and ah-, or they will get 
drawn and weakly. "When they have formed their 
second leaf they should be potted singly in three-inch 
pots, but they must still have artificial warmth if they 
are to be kept growing. At the end of April they ought 
to be large enough to be shifted into five-inch pots, and 
then they may have greenhouse treatment for another 
month. At the end of that time they may be placed in 
a cold pit or frame, and be gradually hardened off. Ten 
days will be long enough for the hardening off process, 
if the lights are taken off by day and put on again at 
night, with a wedge of wood placed under the light to 
ventilate the frame during the time the lights are on. 
The requirements of single dahlias are the same as 
those of the double kinds. To maintain a constant suc¬ 
cession of flowers they must have a rich deep soil to 
grow in, and in dry weather plenty of water. These 
single varieties do not look well when grown as tall 
plants, as we grow the show flowers. In my own case 
I pinch out the center of the plants before they are 
planted out, and this is all the stopping they require. 
When planting them I lay them down on the slant, and 
then all the staking they require is.a neat stick placed 
by the side of the plant. But if they are in an 
exposed position it may be necc ssrry to lot them have 
two or three stakes as supports, when they have made a 
good number of side shoots.—V. Macdonald, in “Gar¬ 
deners Magazine." 
