FLOWER-GARDENING. 61 



frost, the roots ought, in the event of a very 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 cut 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 dry place out 

 of the reach of frost. The temperature suited to keep green- 

 house plants will preserve them in good order. 



WINTER MANAGEMENT OF BULBS. 



Some people complain of the difficulty of keeping Dahlia 

 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, damp place ; or are by some, perhaps, 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 perpe- 

 tuated 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 roots 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 regerminating, at which time they should, after 

 having been deprived of their surplus offsets, be repotted 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 hereafter, 

 under their different heads. 



In the articles which follow, I have named the preferable 



