38 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The ground being prepared by trenching as above directed, choose 

 straight spruce poles (which are the strongest and most durable) and stake 

 the whole bed ; let the poles be seven and a half feet long, and be driven 

 into the ground one and a half feet; then plant your dahlias, one plant to 

 each stake; the plant should be set about one inch lower than the surface 

 of earth in the pot, if the plants have been struck from cuttings ; if from 

 tubers, place the crown of the tuber two inches below the surface. Dahlias 

 may be planted from the first of May to July ; those latest planted give the 

 lest flowers, though, of course, do not afford as early or profuse a display. 

 Dahlias may Jloiver too early, and the blooms be burned up by the hot sum- 

 mer's sun ; then before autumn the plant is exhausted, and no good flowers 

 are produced. A dahlia should not begin to flower before the latter part of 

 August, for cool nights are essential to the production of fine flowers. 



The plants should be tied to the poles with soft bass matting, and should 

 be carefully and frequently examined for this purpose ; a high wind will 

 often break the plant and destroy its symmetry and beauty. 



Pruning. 



No arbitrary rule can be prescribed ; the plant should never be allowed 

 to become bushy with small branches, nor should severe pruning at any 

 time be resorted to. Prune little but often, is a good rule. Varieties differ 

 as to the amount of pruning required, and experience alone will teach the 

 amount beneficial to each. 



Some varieties produce too many flower-buds, and consequently all the 

 flowers are small or imperfect ; when the buds are small many may be re- 

 moved to advantage ; after they have attained any growth, however, this 

 operation is of little benefit ; in this, experience must also be the teacher. 



Insects. 



There are many insects injurious both to the stem, leaf, and flower of the 

 dahlia ; I shall, however, only mention a few of those which prove most 

 destructive in our climate. 



The grasshoppers (Gryllidae ) do much darnage to the blooms by 



eating off the lips of the petals. To remove them by hand is difficult and 

 wearisome ; the best remedy is to turn some turkeys or domestic fowls into 

 the dahlia plantation about the middle of August. 



The striped squash bug (Galeruca vittata), and a small oval bug (Penta- 



toma ), destroy many flowers ; they live in the bloom and eat holes 



in the floral rays, seldom leaving the flower till it is ruined. The remedies 

 for these latter are unknown, for the flower is destroyed by the application 

 of lime, &c. Fine blooms, or those which promise well, may be protected 

 by a covering of gauze or lace ; but this is too expensive and laborious an 

 operation to be performed in a large plantation. 



Watering 



Is never beneficial to the plants, not even in dry weather, unless persist- 

 ently continued, for it has a tendency to bring the roots to the surface, and 



