66 BULBOUS AND TUBEROUS-ROOTED PLANTS. 



sudden attack, to be secured from its blighting effects. They 

 are not apt to keep well if taken up before they are ripened ; 

 the tops should therefore be cat down as soon as they have 

 done flowering, and the ground covered around the roots 

 with dung or litter ; this will enable them to ripen without 

 being injured by frost ; and in about a week after being cut 

 down, or on the appearance of severe weather, they should 

 be dug up and packed in dry sand, and then stowed away in 

 a diy place out of the reach of frost. The temperature suited 

 to keep green-house plants will preserve them in good order. 

 Some people complain of the difficulty of keeping t)ahlia 

 roots through the winter. I am of opinion that they are 

 often killed from being taken up before they are ripe, and 

 then put in a confined, <&imp 'place; or are by some, per- 

 haps, subjected to the other extreme, and dried to a husk. I 

 keep mine on shelves in the green-house, and seldom lose one 

 in a hundred. If it be an object with the cultivator to have 

 the names perpetuated from year to year, each plant should 

 have a small label affixed to the old stalk, by means of small 

 brass or copper wire, as twine is very apt to get rotten. 



Cape bulbs, and such tuberous loots as are cultivated in 

 pots, on account of their tenderness, should be kept dry after 

 the foliage is decayed, until within about a month of their 

 period of re-germinating, at which time they should, after 

 having been deprived of their suqalus offsets, be re-potted 

 in good fresh earth. 



There are some descriptions of bulbous and tuberous roots 

 that need not be taken up oftener than once in two or three 

 years, and then only to deprive them of their young offsets, 

 and to manure the ground. These will be described here- 

 after under their different heads. 



In the articles which follow, I have named the preferable 

 season for planting the various kinds of bulbous and tuberous 

 roots ; but as some bulbs will keep in good condition several 

 months, there can be no objection to retaining such out of the 

 ground, to suit any particular purpose or convenience. 



