"198 ON THE CULTURE OE THE DAHLIA. 



ARTICLE III.— On the Culture of the Dahlia. By Mr. 

 James Jones, Gardener, A ck worth, near Pontc- 

 fract. 



I herewith send for your acceptance an account of my method 

 of growing Dahlias ; but as others have said a great deal already 

 oil the subject, I shall be as brief as possible. In the first week 

 in March, having a hot-bed ready, I put on the frame, and cover 

 the bed to a depth of six inches with soil. I place my roots close 

 to each other on the top of this earth, and cover them up with a 

 coating of dry moss about three inches thick ; I allow them plenty 

 of air in the clay time, if the bed be very hot. And when they 

 first push out shoots I frequently sprinkle than with warm water. 

 By the time the shoots are three or four inches long, they have 

 generally formed new roots ; this may be easily seen by removing 

 the moss. I carefully take off with a sharp knife the shoots at all 

 connected with roots, and pot them in sixties ; these I plunge into 

 the hot-bed again until they have formed strong roots, when I 

 remove them into twenty-four sized pots, and let them remain in 

 a cold frame until I plant them out. In the last week in May, 

 which I consider quite soon enough, I plant them out three feet 

 asunder, and in two or tln - ee weeks time I have the ground well 

 forked over as deep as I can, taking care not to injure the young 

 roots ; the forking I repeat every month in dry weather. 



I secure each plant with three stakes, placed at equal distances 

 from the plant, about eighteen inches apart; I tie one of the 

 ■.strongest shoots to each stake, and secure the whole by tying 

 strong tar band round all the stakes in different places according 

 to the height of the plant. 



In taking up the roots to keep through winter, care should be 

 taken to choose a dry day, before the frost affects the leaves. I 

 have found that they are preserved most effectually in barley-chaff; 

 out of many hundred roots I have not lost half-a-dozen. By the 

 above precautions I never fail to have a very plentiful show of 

 fine flowers. 



James Jones- 



Jickworth, June YJth, 1834. 



