550 Home Nature-Study Course. 



Material. — One each of all the different kinds of dahlias that are to 

 be had. Single ones of both cactus and fiat-rayed type ; double cactus 

 dahlia; "fancies," which have always more than one color; 

 Observation by the pupils: 



1. Describe all the kinds of dahlias in the schoolroom or garden as 

 to size, color, number of petals, shape. 



2. Among all the wild flowers of your acquaintance, do you know 

 any double ones? 



3. Is there any familiar double flower of your gardens whose wild 

 relatives you know to be single? 



4. Do you know any double flowers of any kind which form seed 

 after blooming? 



Facts for the teacher. — Tell how the double flowers do not occur in nature, but 

 are slowly brought to such a state by saving the seeds of such as were noticed to 

 have a few extra petals, cultivating with care, usually giving an excess of food, and 

 so encouraging the habit through many generations. Many country children may be 

 able to compare the wild rose, wild sunflower, meadow buttercup, and wild pink, 

 with cultivated flowers of the same name which they observe to be double. Usually 

 double flowers have few or no seeds, though there are exceptions like the holly- 

 hocks and poppies. Then they must be propagated in some other way — by cuttings, 

 grafts, or divided roots. 



LESSION XIII. 



CULTURE OF THE D.\HLIA. 



Facts for tlic tcaclicr. — Dahlias are not difficult to grow. They require rich 

 soil, but any ground which will grow good corn or potatoes, will with equal care 

 in cultivation bring large returns of these flowers. There are four ways of propa- 

 gation ; by seeds, by tubers, by cuttings, and by grafting. The first two are most 

 common. 



Seeds planted in March in house or hotbed will yield blossoms as quickly as 

 plants from tubers. Use rather deep flats and sow two inches apart in the row, 

 transplanting when all danger of frost is past. The seed germinates in about a week. 



Tubers are best started in boxes of moist, warm sand. Set a whole bunch 

 together, just covering the crown. It is from the crown tliat new shoots start, and 

 the bunch must be divided so that each "toe " has at least one bud, or it cannot 

 grow ; this can be done with much more certainty after the buds have started. 

 Some tubers will have, several shoots and others will have none. With these one 

 may experiment with grafts and cuttings. For the first, take a thrifty shoot and cut 

 its base wedge-shape; make a wedge-shaped hole in the top of a dormant tuber, 

 insert the shoot and immediately plant them, packing the earth aliout them care- 

 fully. Cuttings should be started in dishes of sand, kept warm and moist but not wet. 



Dahlias are very thirsty plants, being so big and succulent, and should Iiave 

 plenty of water yet be well drained. Soot and ashes are good to dig into the soil 

 about them. If too many buds appear, some should be pinched off for the sake of 

 the greater size and beauty of those remaining. 



When the blooming season is over, the tubers should be taken up on a warm 

 sunny day and dried in the sun for a day or two. Then they should be stored in 

 the dark, where it is cool and dry and out of the reach of rats and mice. Warmth 

 and dampness will cause them to mold or rot. 



References: "Lessons with Plants," Bailey; "The Flower Garden," 



Bennett. 



