The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-09-11

BY MRS. C. o. ROBINSON
The melancholy days will come,
The saddest of the fall,
When he and she sit the porch,
Wrapped up in grandma's winter shawl.
u
EOR the person who cares only
Il about bright summer weather,
the melancholy days are ap-
preaching, but to the dahlia grow
ing enthusiast, fall is the most
delightful time of the year. AL
though dahliaS produce bloom for
a longer period than almost any
other garden plant, starting to
bud early in July and continuing
until cut down by Jack Frost, they
essentially are autumn flowers.
In 1870 King Philip II Of Spain
sent Francisco Hernandez, a Span
ish physician, into Mexico to study
and record the natural products OF
new Spain. A native flower so at
tracted the doctor that he in
Guided it in his report under its
Aztec name, 'acocotli, meaning
water pipe"
There is no record that this
flower, native to the mountains
and tablelands of Mexico and
Central America, was imported
into Europe until 1889, when Vim
cente Cervantes, a Mexican botan-
list, sent some roots to Cavenllles,
director of the botanical garden
in Madrid. A Swedish botaniSt,
Andreas Dahl, became interested
in experimenting with these plants
and they were given the name
dahlia in his honor.
In less than a century and a
half, the dahlia has been de- p
veloped from the country wild
flower of Mexico to one of
wondrous beauty and diversity,
whose enthusiasts have organized
special societies devoted to its
study. The dahlia has been per-
sistently popular because OF de-
velopment of new types, colors
and forms.
From the original acocotli, with
a single row of brick red petals
around a yellow center, all this
diversification has been made.
The first double was developed
in 1914, the first cactus in 1879,
and now this really great truly
American flower has been pro-
duced in every color except pure
blue and in every intermediate
shade and tint. In form it varies
also from the huge decoratives to
the single dwarf, so popular lately
for dinner table ornamentation.
A THOUGH dahlias are grown
N most extensively from roots,
they are cultivated readily from
seed. This method of propaga-
ton makes their cultivation
delightful hobby, since dahliaS
from seed have a tendency to
vary into multitude of colors and
forms.
Coast states, especially Califor-
MIA and New Jersey, have pro-
duced most of the seedlings grown
in the United States, as they
flourish best where the air is
heavy with moisture. The Kath-
leen Norris, a delicious pink, which
was the show sensation all over
the country last year, was orig
mated from seed at Trenton, N. j.,
in 1928.
The largest and most perfect
bloom at the Irvington show last
year, 1914 inches wide and eight
inches deep. was of this variety.
Indiana growers are becoming
recognized as producers of seed
lings. Four different varieties
were entered by Hoosiers in the
national trial grounds at Stores,
Conn. Even trade journals have
acknowledged that Indiana en-
thusiasts have grown some Of the
finest dahlias in the world and,
as the largest bloom in the In
diana show last year exceeded the
largest in the national show, the
point seems to be proved.
The Misses Jennie and Ada
Tudor were among the first to
grow dahlias extensively in this
part of the country. For sixteen
years they have been recognized
throughout the middlewest for the
perfection Of their blooms and
their artistic show displays. At
the Indiana show last year they