JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
31 
July  10,  1902. 
an  early  supply,  preparations  for  propagating  on  a  large  scale 
have  to  be  commenced  before  Christmas.  A  spacious  oblong 
span-roofed  house,  some  60ft  long  by  16ft  or  so  broad,  with  a 
brick-lined  bed  down  the  middle  and  a  similar  one  of  lesser  width 
at  the  sides,  is  planted  with  Dahlia  roots — ground  roots,  lifted 
from  the  open  ground  some  two  months  previously;  and  in 
addition  a  number  of  pot  roots — i.e.,  the  unsold  green  plants  of 
the  previous  summer.  Mr.  C'uthbertson  said  there  were  10,000 
roots  in  this  house,  planted  as  thickly  as  possible  in  the  beds, 
and  half  covered  with  soil,  leaving  the  crown  of  the  root  exposed 
to  view,  this  being  the  point  from  which  the  young  shoots  are 
put  forth.  Hot  water  pipes  pass  through  the  beds,  but  they  are 
not  visible.  At  the  time  of  my  visit,  the  third  week  in  March, 
the  cutting  trade  was  in  full  swing,  though  there  had  been  no 
relaxation  of  the  rooting  of  cuttings  for  the  production  of  green 
plants  for  May  orders.  How  busy  the  propagators  had  been 
was  shown  by  the  fact  that  in  one  large  house  there  were 
some  50,000  cuttings  placed  round  the  sides  of  small  pots, 
plunged  in  cocoa-nut  fibre  with  a  bottom  heat  of  about  80deg. 
But  this  was  not  all.  Outside  were  lines  of  frames,  heated, 
cutting  on  the  ledge  of  the  bed ;  another  ties  the  cuttings  u n 
into  little  bundles,  the  bundles  are  collected,  sent  into  the  pack¬ 
ing  shed,  the  order  is  checked,  and  then  despatched.  The  pack¬ 
ing  rooms  are  admirable.  They  are  an  enormous  improvement 
upon  the  packing  sheds  of  fifty  and  less  years  ago.  Messrs. 
Dobbie  and  Co.  plant  out  over  three  acres  of  Dahlias,  includin  ; 
seedlings,  and  a  large  number  of  green  plants  have  to  be  held 
over  to  furnish  pot  roots  for  foreign  and  colonial  orders  in 
winter.  During  the  month  of  May,  and  on  into  June,  there  is 
an  increasing  trade  done  in  green  rooted  plants,  which  find  their 
way  to  all  parts  of  the  kingdom. 
Dereham  Nurseries. 
A  month  later  I  was  inspecting  the  Dahlia  manufactory  at 
Dereham,  Norfolk,  as  above  (Hobbies.  Limited),  the  horticultural 
managing  director  of  which  is  Mr.  John  Green.  Here  Dahlia 
propagation  is  carried  on  to  all  appearance  as  extensively  as  at 
Rothesay.  It  was  getting  towards  the  end  of  the  propagating 
season,  but  it  was  by  no  means  over.  Mr.  Green,  who  is  a  well 
known  raiser  and  exhibitor  of  Dahlias,  having  produced  some 
Holland  Park  Show — F.  Cant’s  Roses.  (See  page  34.) 
full  of  pots  of  cuttings  already  rooted,  but  undergoing  a  process 
of  hardening  previous  to  being  potted  off  singly  into  small  pots. 
They  are  taken  into  the  potting  shed  from  2,000  to  5,000  cuttings 
at  a  time,  potted  off,  returned  to  the  warm  house  and  kept  close 
for  a  time,  then  hardened  off  in  the  frames  in  the  open  ready  for 
the  execution  of  orders. 
The  houses  in  which  the  cuttings  are  rooted  have  an  inside 
shading  to  the'  roofs  of  green  blinds,  which  can  be  drawn  down 
over  the  interior  at  night  so  as  to  maintain  the  day  temperature 
as  equably  as  possible.  Above  the  blinds  are  ventilators,  always 
kept  open,  more  or  less,  night  and  day,  and  over  the  openings 
in  the  ventilators  is  a  covering  of  fine  muslin,  which,  while  not 
excluding  air,  yet  prevents  the  downward  rush  of  cold  currents. 
The  sale  of  cuttings  begins  in  February  and  goes  on  until 
April.  The  main  of  the  cuttings  are  despatched  by  post,  packed 
in  boxes  with  damp  moss.  As  cuttings  can  be  sold  so  much 
cheaper  than  plants,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  there  is 
such  a  demand  for  them.  The  trade  take  great  quantities,  and 
the  amateur  class  are  eager  buyers.  It  is  interesting  to  watch 
the  process  of  executing  orders.  A  huge  case  of  printed  names 
is  at  hand  :  the  collector  of  the  order  calls  the  name  of  the  cutting 
he  takes  off,  it  is  handed  to  him,  and  he  lays  it  by  the  side  of  the 
very  fine  varieties  of  the  Cactus  type,  does  no  trade  in  cuttings, 
but  the  demand  for  plants  is  very  great.  Two  or  three  large 
houses  are  devoted  to  the  propagation  of  Dahlias,  but  of  these 
the  Cactus  type  very  largely  preponderated. 
At  Dereham  seedling  Dahlias  are  raised  in  very  large  quan¬ 
tities;  they  are  to  be  seen  by  the  thousand,  and  as  we  were 
looking  over  the  pans  of  Cactus  varieties,  Mr.  Green  pointed  out 
some  with  quite  pale  main  and  leaf  stems,  and  he  said  these  are 
pretty  certain  to  produce  white  flowers,  and,  he  added,  there  is 
plenty  of  room  for  a  good  white.  As  these  seedlings  are  all  from 
the  best  blood,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  some  very  fine  novelties 
may  appear  among  them. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  at  the  exhibition  of  the  London 
Dahlia  Union,  held  at  the  Royal  Aquarium,  Westminster,  in 
September  last,  Mr.  Green  had  on  his  stand  blooms  of  a  new 
type  of  single  Dahlia  known  as  President  Vigier,  or  the  Collarette 
type — “  a  single  Dahlia  with  a  collar.”  This  is  being  largely 
grown  at  Dereham,  it  being  held  that  so  much  curiosity  was 
excited  over  the  type  that  it  is  pretty  certain  to  be  in  consider¬ 
able  demand.  Enough  to  state  that  the  Dahlia  is  very  widely 
recognised  here,  and  every  type  is  to  be  found  in  stock  ;  among 
them  some  highly  proinising  new  Cactus  varieties. — R.  Dean. 
