November  13,  1902. 
453  ' 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTA  IE  GARDENER. 
THE  CACTUS  DAHLIA  IN  GARDENS. 
For  several  years  in  succession  I  have  taken  a  day’s  cycle  run 
into  the  country  to  the  same  destination,  a  run  of  some  twenty- 
five  miles,  through  a  number  of  small  hamlets  and  villages  in 
Sussex,  and,  being  “a  Dahlia  man,”  naturally  the  Dahlia  catches 
my  eye  at  once  whenever  and  wherever  it  may  be.  I  do  not  know 
VALLOTA  PURPUREA.  (See  page  451.) 
Dahlias  were  less  in  number,  but  the  only  old  variety  that  was 
left  in  force  was  Constance,  and  the  others  were  Cactus  sorts, 
notably  Starfish  and  Countess  of  Lonsdale,  with  sometimes  a 
Night,  and  one  or  two  others. 
I  was,  indeed,  struck  to  see  that,  although  to  look  at  the 
houses,  &c.,  one  would  imagine  that  they  had  not  altered  for  fifty 
years,  yet  the  Cactus  Dahlia  had  found  its  way  even  here,  and 
I  could  not  help  smiling  at  what  I  had  read  in  various  gardening 
whether  this  particular  route  is  favoured  with  an  extra  supply  of 
the  autumn  favourite,  but  this  I  must  say — that  it  appears  to  be 
the  predominant  feature  in  quite  nine  out  of  ten  of  the  front 
gardens  of  cottages  the  whole  way. 
This  fact  was  very  striking  some  three  or  four  years  back. 
Then  there  was  scarcely  a  flower  resembling  a  modern  Cactus 
Dahlia.  I  remember  calling  out  the  name  of  Constance,  Cochi¬ 
neal,  General  Gordon,  and  one.  or  two  others  repeatedly  as  .we 
rode  by,  it  being  somewhat  interesting  to  see  the  old  stagers 
again  and  in  good  form,  too.  This  year,  however,  they  were 
gone;  quite  a  change  had  come  over  the  gardens.  Not  that  the 
papers,  from  one  signing  himself  “A.  D.,”  who  still  contends 
that  Cactus  Dahlias  are  a  failure  in  the  garden.  Surely  no  man 
could  expect  to  exact  more  bloom  from  a  plant  of  any  sort  than 
I  saw  on  hundreds  of  Dahlias  as  late  as  this  present  week 
(November  5). 
I  have  often  wondered  where  the  enormous  number  of  green 
plants  turned  out  yearly  by  some  of  our  retailing  firms  went  to, 
but  it  is  now,  to  a  certain  extent,  no  longer  a  mystery.  If  all  the 
country  over  is  changing  “  decoratives  ”  for  “  Cactus  ’’  at  the  same 
rate  as  in  this  part  of  Sussex  the  demand  must  be  indeed  pheno¬ 
menal.  — D  AHLX  ais  t  . 
