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THE SCHOOL GARDEN BOOK 



weather is well settled. In the more northern localities they 

 may be planted to advantage about the first of June. Good 

 bulbs may be bought from the florists at small cost and should 

 be set in rich loamy soil, covering about one inch deep. The 

 plants will develop rather slowly 

 and should blossom in September, 

 producing long spikes of white flowers 

 with a heavy sweetish perfume. 



There are few flowers that will 

 give so great a decorative show the 

 same season that they are planted 

 as the dahlia. On this account 

 these plants are particularly desira- 

 ble for use in new places where the 

 shrubbery has not become fully de- 

 veloped, or where one wishes an 

 attractive display along the wall or 

 fence or in the border garden. For 

 these are the situations where the 

 dahlias may be used to greatest advantage. v 



One advantage of the dahlia to the average gardener is 

 the ease with which the plants may be grown. If started early 

 from seed in the house, the plants will bloom the same 

 season. It is so easy to multiply the fine named varieties, 

 both by division of the clumps of tubers and by rooting the 

 separate sprouts that spring from them, that these methods 

 are usually followed both in the home garden and by com- 

 mercial growers. 



In April or May the tubers should be taken from storage 

 and divided with a sharp knife. With skill, a clump may be 

 so divided as to give every tuber a portion of the base of the 



A Jar of Tuberoses 



