The medium and small pompons should be accorded similar treatment to that given to the small decorative and cactus, that is only the weak growths are removed when grown on rich soils, reducing a little more severely on poor soil. The small pompons require very little thinning unless the soil is particularly poor.

Hence to obtain early blooms in fair numbers it is usual to stop the main stems, fairly early in the plant’s life, by removing the growing point; this has the effect of concentrating the full flow of sap into the lateral branches which grow at an accelerated rate.

Bedding varieties, quite naturally, are grown unrestricted. It must he pointed out, that although the foregoing has been in the main given for the benefit of the exhibitor, the same principles may be applied when dahlias are grown for garden decoration alone.

Although the main object of stopping is to produce early blooms, it must be understood that the plant must be in good condition at the time of stopping, otherwise the effect will be lost and the plant may receive such a check that it will bloom later than if left unstopped.

One other important point must not be overlooked. Stopping can be used to partially control the time at which blooms are produced, as each and every variety has a natural period for the development of its component parts, from side shoot formation to production and development of bud, and so on.

The time taken from each particular stage to the next will vary a little with the weather conditions prevailing, but the ratio will remain fairly constant from variety to variety, so that the approximate time of bloom from a stop on any given date can be roughly estimated. This control may not be particularly essential in the smaller flowered varieties, which produce blooms in fairly quick succession, but is a great value to the exhibitor of the giant blooms.