ee ee 
DAHLIA. 183 DAHLIA. 
should be cut down; and in No-| fection disqualifies even a fine Dahlia 
vember, the tubers should be taken | from competing for a prize, dishonest 
up. A dry day should be chosen, | florists frequently try to remove it 
if possible; and the tubers should | artificially, after the flower has ex- 
be carefully taken up, and laid on 
boards in an open shed, or some 
similar place, to dry. While drying, 
they should be turned every day, 
and the earth that falls from them 
should be swept away. They should 
be dried in an open shed, if possible, 
where they will be only Zs 
from the rain; for if dried suddenly 
by fire-heat, or exposure to the sun, 
the tubers are apt to wither up; and 
if dried too slowly, without the ad- 
mission of plenty of air, they will 
rot. They generally do best kept 
during the winter in a dry cellar in 
sand or sawdust ; but any dry place 
will do which is not too hot. In 
spring, the tubers are replanted, 
either in pots plunged in a slight 
hotbed, about the middle of Februa- 
ry or the beginning of March, or in 
the open ground in May or June; 
but the dwarf early-flowering kinds 
may be planted in the open air in 
April. When the tall kinds are 
wanted to flower early, they may 
be forced rapidly forward, by being 
plunged into stronger heat, and kept 
in the hotbed till just ready to flow- 
er. If, however, the summer should | panded. The size and colour of the 
prove hot and dry, the plants thus | flowers are considered as of inferior 
forced are frequently attacked by a | consequence to the form, by professed 
disease called the curl, which is} florists ; though, of course, large 
eaused by an insect, called the} flowers are generally preferred to 
green bug, that perforates the young | small ones, and the colours, what- 
leaves, and occasions them to wither | ever they may be, should be always 
and shrivel up. All Dahlias are| clear and distinct, without any 
also frequently infested with ear-| blotches, clouding, or muddiness. 
wigs, which pierce the flower-buds, | There are several distinct classes, 
and prevent them from expanding. | if they may be so called, of the 
The beauty of the Dahlia is esti- | flowers; as, for example, the Globe 
mated principally by the shape of | Dahlias, the dwarfs, the quilled, &c. 
the flower, which should be perfectly | As the plants are very luxuriant in 
circular, without any of the petals | their stems and leaves, they require 
projecting beyond the others; but|some kind of confinement ; and 
if the disk in the centre be seen in| they are generally either tied to 
a full-blown flower, it is considered | cast-iron stakes painted green, or 
as a great defect. As this imper-|drawn through what are called 
Fig. 17.—Dalilia-rings. 
