5 1 8 Propagation of the Dahlia, 



time or other, had recourse to the purchase of new and improved 

 kinds, and, I think, few of those persons will be found, who do 

 not conceive that they have cause of complaint from the deceits 

 practised on them by the commercial cultivator ; but were these 

 aggrieved individuals to examine with a little discrimination and 

 impartiality, they would find that in very many instances, where 

 the "hue and cry" has been raised against the sale grower, 

 their want of success can be traced to their own mismanagement 

 or careless neglect. At the same time, nurserymen are not 

 blameless, although extenuating circumstances are connected 

 with some of their mistakes. For instance, sending out very 

 small plants at a late season of the year, sending out one variety 

 of dahlia with the name of another attached, or even sending 

 out a cutting in a pot with not a single root; these are contin- 

 gencies, which, even in the best-regulated establishments, are 

 almost beyond the power of the closest vigilance to prevent, but 

 which no respectable grower will refuse to correct. 



The following goes far to prove that dahlia cuttings made 

 without buds at their base will grow and flower as well as those 

 where buds have been retained, but that their roots will not af- 

 terwards grow. The writer at one time possessed a seedling 

 dahlia of some merit, and was desirous of having as many plants 

 of it as possible the following year. At the proper season the 

 root was potted, and in due time the shoots made their ap- 

 pearance. The cuttings were taken off", not by their insertion 

 on the root, but above the first pair of leaves ; these were pared 

 off close to the buds, and struck in the usual manner. A short 

 time after, another but a weaker shoot was developed in the 

 axils of each of the remaining leaves ; when of sufficient strength, 

 these also were made into cuttings, and rooted with the old leaf 

 still attached to their base ; finally, the old root was divided into 

 as many plants as could be made of it, and each sort separately 

 distinguished by a particular mark. At the usual time the 

 plants were planted in a piece of well prepared ground ; all 

 grew and flowered equally well, and, with few exceptions, the 

 roots of all were equally strong : they were lifted rather early 

 than otherwise, and preserved during the winter in dry sand. 

 The second spring the roots were placed in heat, as formerly. 

 From those of each of the first-made cuttings, two strong, with 

 one or more small, shoots were produced ; these were the two 

 buds included in the base of the cutting, and now forming the 

 crown of the plant. Numerous shoots developed themselves 

 from those formed of the divided root of the old plant, but not 

 one ever showed itself from the roots of the secondary cuttings. 

 The cause of this failure is simple, and easy of solution. Al- 

 though a leaf was attached to the base of each of these cuttings, 

 still there was no bud included ; the shoots were formed by an- 

 ticipation from the buds, which, had the cuttings been taken 



