548 



CULTURE OF THE DAHLIA. 



Many persons, also, err in supposing that 

 fine Dahlias can be produced b}' crowding 

 Dahlia roots into shrubbery borders, and 

 parts of the pleasure ground filled with the 

 roots of trees. It may do very well to em- 

 ploy this plant as a material to fill up such 

 places and produce what flowers it may ; 

 but whoever wishes perfect blossoyns, and a 

 conti7iual succession of them, must set his 

 'plants in an open, airy situation, where the 

 soil ha<i j/reviously been trenched two spades 

 deep, ajid well manured. 



In these two points, so far as my obser- 

 vation and experience are worth anything, 

 lie the whole art of growing fine Dahlias. 

 Trenching to the depth of 20 inches will 

 give dark green healthy foliage, and well 

 formed flowers in abundance, in a soil which, 

 without trenching, will only produce lean 

 and meagre plants, with weak shoots, yel- 

 lowish foliage, and a few indifferent blooms. 



Pruning I do not think should be too 

 much practiced on the Dahlia. Certainly, 

 a plant is improved by having the weak and 

 slender side branches taken off", and a shoot 

 here and there cut out, if the variety has a 

 disposition to grow so bushy that the branch- 

 es are too crowded to permit a proper dis- 

 play of the flowers. But beyond this, I think 

 pruning is not needed with us, as it is in 

 the damper climate of England ; growth- 

 exciting as the latter is. 



Dampness, and a moderate temperature, 

 the Dahlia delights in. I agree with you, 

 that the Messrs. Thorburn bear off' the 

 palm as the great Dahlia growers of this 

 country. They have, however, great na- 

 tural advantages, possessed by few cultiva- 

 tors of this plant. Their Dahlia ground, at 

 Astoria, is a deep, sandy loam, only a few- 

 feet above the level of the East river. 

 Hence, the subsoil is always somewhat 

 moist, and the atmosphere more or less 

 humid at night. Their season is also pro- 



longed by this position, as many of your 

 readers, who have seen their magnificent 

 annual exhibitions of this flower in John- 

 street, in the month of October, must be 

 well aware. 



Very few people in this country care to 

 take the trouble to compete with the Eng- 

 lish florists, with their many advantages, in 

 raising new sorts of the Dahlia from seed. 

 To those who do, however, the following hint 

 is worth attention. Always save your seed 

 from the outside row of the seed vessel, and 

 not from the centre. Repeated experiment 

 has proved that the former seeds will give 

 double flowers and the latter single ones, 

 with almost equal certainty.* The same 

 thing is true of China Asters, and other 

 syngenesious plants. 



A good many amateurs, who cultivate 

 only a iew Dahlias, fail in preserving the 

 roots through the winter. The failure usu- 

 ally results from too much pains-taking, 

 drying the roots, putting them in a warm, 

 airy place, etc. Now the Dahlia tuber will 

 not bear a dry atmosphere ; it shrivels and 

 loses the vital power ; and if packed away 

 ^n sand, &c., it often decays. What it 

 wants is a somewhat damp atmosphere, 

 quite free from frost. No one who has a 

 green-house ever experiences the least dif- 

 ficulty in preserving the roots ; it is suffi- 

 cient to lay them on the fioor under the 

 stage. Alternate moisture and dryness 

 does not injure them, provided they dry 

 and do not remain long wet. 



A good cellar for potatoes will usually 

 keep Dahlia roots also, if the roots are sim- 

 ply laid on the floor. A friend of mine, who 

 failed several seasons in preserving them, 

 from want of knowledge of their nature, in- 

 forms me that he has succeeded perfectly 

 since he has mixed them in the bins with 



* I mean, of course, when the seed is saved from the beet 

 semi-double, or nearly double flowers. 



