THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 



heavy soil will sometimes give a rank growth of stalks and foliage 

 and few flowers, but, generally speaking, there is little danger 

 of getting the soil too rich. The chances of unsatisfactory results 

 from having the soil too poor are vastly greater than from having 

 the soil too rich. Most an}' kind of fertilizer will do, but to get 

 the most good from it, it should be well mixed in with the soil and 

 the bulk of it should be from six to twelve inches away from the 

 root at the time of planting. A heavy clayey soil that is inclined 



Fig. 3. Portion ol the dahlia Imrdcr in the New York Botanical Garden, 



October 18, 1918. 



to bake down hard in the summer is commonly much improved 

 by spreading on coal ashes or sand to a depth of three to eight 

 inches and ploughing it under or spading it in. 



Probably the most frequent cause of want of success with 

 dahlias is lack of suf^cient water dtiring the hot dry weather of 

 midsummer. If artificial watering is done at all it is much better 

 to do it thoroughly and heavily two or three times a week (pre- 

 ferably in the evening) than to give the plants a little water every 



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