136 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND QARDEN GUIDE. 



DAHLIA CTJLTUEE. 



" Having got the first lot of plants with 

 names aud colours, arrange them so tliat 

 no two colours of the same class come to- 

 gether. Put violet nest yellow, purple 

 next orange, aud white to relieve any 

 colour as to the contrast for which you 

 may be in doubt. The arrangement of 

 dahlias is of more importance than the 

 arrangement of any class of flowers, be- 

 cause of their boldness of colour, and tlie 

 extent to which those colours may be 

 heightened by proper contrasts. The bor- 

 der or bed for dahlias should be of good 

 hazelly loam, abundantly manured, and 

 should be prepared long before the plants 

 are put out,in just the same way as directed 

 for hollyhocks. Before planting, which 

 should be done when the ground is mo- 

 derately dry, tread the earth firm, then 

 press the pot down into the place where 

 the plant is to be, and if you can make a 

 place to receiye the plant without using a 

 trowel, all the better ; if not, take out 

 a little earth with a trowel and plunge the 

 pot to the rim, and bed it in firmly. Then 

 take the pot out of the hole, into which it 

 has thus been made to fit, turn it upside- 

 down and give the edge a slight tap on the 

 barrow, and the ball will come out clean, 

 and may be turned over into the hole 

 without damaging a single fibre. This is 

 the best way of turning every kind of 

 plant out of a pot, but is particularly to be 

 recommended in planting dahlias, because 

 of the tenderness of their roots when 

 young. 



Whatever the kind of soil in which 

 dahlias are planted, it must be well ma- 

 nured — a good spadeful of rotten dung to 

 every plant, and another spadeful on the 

 surface to keep the roots moist. I use 

 none but iron stakes for dahlias, holly- 

 hocks, etc. ; they are neater, cleaner, and 

 last for ever, if their feet are brushed over 

 with melted pitch, and the remainder of 

 the rods painted. If wood stakes are used 

 they should be of oak, and it is best to 

 place three to each plant, and tie out the 

 branches to them so as to form a round 

 bush with a good head, and the flowers 

 regularly displayed all over it. Plenty of 

 water must be given all through the sum- 

 mer, and in rainy weather it will strengthen 

 the blooms to give a little liquid manure. 

 Only one stem should be allowed to a 

 plant, and any ill-placed side shoots or 

 rank superfluous growths should be cut 

 cleau away to the base. Plants that bloom 

 too profusely should be thinned of their 

 buds to get finer blooms; this is a very 

 necessary practice where dahlias are to 



be cut for show, or where the highest per- 

 fections of a choice sort are to be fully 

 brought out. The dahlia is a robust 

 grower, aud rarely fails to reward the 

 painstaking cultivator. It is not much 

 given to green fly or thrips, but earwigs 

 devastate its foliage and bloom-buds to a 

 terrible extent, if allowed to gain the 

 ascendancy. These vermin, however, may 

 be trapped with the greatest ease, for they 

 feed at night, and on the return of day- 

 light take shelter in any neighbouring cre- 

 vice. Hence a flower-pot stuffed full of hay 

 or moss and mounted on a stake, is a very 

 efi'ectual trap ; but better still, cut bean- 

 stalks into six-inch lengtlis and thrust 

 them into the middle of the plants over 

 night, and early in the morning take them 

 out and blow the earwigs into a pot of salt 

 and water. Crab-shells, lobster-claws, and 

 other ill-looking devices, are used in cot- 

 tage gardens ; but they spoil the beauty 

 of the garden, and it would almost be 

 better to let the earwigs eat up the dahlias 

 root and branch than trap them with such 

 deformities. There is an excellent imple- 

 ment, known as '* Edwards's Earwig Trap," 

 made by Edwards, of Paul's Square, Bir- 

 mingham, which every dahlia grower should 

 use in preference to the rude traps which 

 BO disfigure a garden. 



As soon as dahlias die down in autumn 

 — and the first frost will turn them black 

 and bring their glory to an end — cut them 

 clean over to the ground, aud lift the roots 

 carefully with a fork. Take them up with- 

 out bruising the fleshy tubers, and at once 

 attach tallies to them, to prevent mistakes 

 at next season's planting, aud lay them in 

 some spare dry corner with a little earth 

 over them for a few days. Then shake 

 off" the mould and lay the roots in shal- 

 low baskets, and store away anywhere out 

 of reach of frost or damp. The least touch 

 of frost will kill them, and damp, for any 

 length of time, will cause them to turn 

 mouldy and rot. At attic is an excellent 

 store-room. The dahlia is of precisely the 

 same constitution as a potato ; every eye 

 on the tuber will make a plant, and tubers 

 cut so as to leave one eye to each piece 

 may be planted at the end of April or early 

 in May, and will throw up a stem and 

 make a good plant. But the usual way is 

 to get them forward in heat, so as, by 

 having plenty of roots and a stem alreadj 

 formed before they are planted out, to get 

 them earlier in bloom. Hard-eyed sorts 

 never bloom well in London. — Town Gar^ 

 den, 2nd edition 



