CHAP. Tin.] DAHLIA. 249 



or three inches, the tubers to which they are 

 attached may be broken off from the rest with 

 the thumb and finger, or cut asunder with a 

 knife, and each bud with its tuber planted in a 

 separate pot. This operation nurserymen call 

 "starting the eyes;" and it is essential, before 

 dividing the root, as if a tuber be planted that 

 is blind, as the nurserymen call those that have 

 no buds, though it will live many years in the 

 ground, and every year send out fibrous roots, 

 yet it will never produce a stem. As soon as 

 the young plants are potted, their pots are 

 replunged in the hotbed, where they are kept in 

 a moderate degree of heat, and with a moderate 

 supply of water, but with an ample supply of 

 air, till May or June, when they are transferred 

 to the open ground. The cuttings are taken 

 from the tops of the shoots, dividing a joint 

 with a smooth clean cut ; they should be 

 planted in sand, and covered with a bell-glass, 

 the pots being plunged in a moderate hotbed, 

 and shaded till they have taken root, which will 

 be in about a fortnight. When raised from 

 seed, the seed should be sown in February, and 

 the young plants planted out in June. The 

 roots should be taken up in October, and 

 replanted in the following spring, when they 

 will flower, and the worthless ones may be 

 thrown away. 



The name of Dahlia was given to this genus 

 by Cavanilles, Professor of Botany at Madrid, 

 in 1789, in honour of Professor Dahl, a Swedish 

 botanist. This name was afterwards changed 

 by Willdenow to Georgina, in honour of a 

 German botanist named Georgi, who resided 



