454 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 



lightly, and cut off from the root the longer shoots, each with a 

 tuber or more, or with only a small portion of the crown of the 

 old plant. The tubers are of no consequence to the young 

 plant after it strikes its own roots, and generally the less of the 

 old tuber you plant the better, if you either pot the young 

 shoots until they root, or plant them at once and shade them 

 till they start. If you wish to increase them largely, each 

 shoot may be thus cut out, as the eyes of potatoes are cut out 

 for planting in times of scarcity, or you may still farther mul- 

 tiply them by making cuttings of them all. For this purpose, 

 cut off each young shoot just above the crown, leaving the low- 

 er circle of incipient buds on the old root. Set each cutting 

 thus obtained singly in a half-pint pot, and place them in a 

 moderate and shaded hot bed, with plenty of air, until they are 

 well started, which may require a week or two, when they are 

 ready for setting out. When your old roots have thrown new 

 shoots from the collar buds you left, cut your second and more 

 numerous crop in the same manner, leaving just the collar cir- 

 cle of each, and treat them as the first. This may be contin- 

 ued and repeated far into the season, only taking care not to 

 force the growth of shoots too fast, so as to destroy the stamina 

 of the cutting. 



At the close of the cutting season the old roots may be 

 taken out and divided as first directed. 



Dahlias are also readily raised from seed, which, though suf- 

 ficiently abundant in the poorer sorts, is scantily yielded by 

 the very finest varieties of this flower ; but upon plants of the 

 very best character certain comparatively imperfect blossoms 

 will appear in the course of the season, and the earlier of these 

 will generally furnish a few perfect and ripened seeds. These 

 may be sown early in spring, in a box or hot bed, and should be 

 transplanted while small into half-pint pots, and treated in all 

 respects as directed for cuttings. With early sowing and care 

 they will often blossom the first season, and always in the sec- 

 ond, yet so large a proportion of seedling flowers prove of infe- 

 rior character that private cultivators seldom find it worth 

 while to raise them. 



Dahlias are sometimes grafted upon tubers of common kinds. 



