THE MANSE GARDEN. 227 



attended with some trouble, which perhaps some 

 cultivators will not bestow till by a fatal negligence 

 the whole live stock have perished, and either the 

 price of replacing, or the sad privation felt next 

 summer, rouse the mind to the safe but necessary 

 precautions. The first thing is to secure the ripen- 

 ing of the roots. A slight frost blights the foliage 

 and flowers, but it does not follow that the roots 

 afflicted in the vigour of growth are so instantane- 

 ously ripened. The potato is allowed to stand after 

 the leaves are gone ; and so ought the dahlia for a 

 time, leaving the pith of the stalk, as a sponge, to 

 absorb and exhale the superfluous moisture whilst 

 the sun helps that process by getting at the ground 

 through defect of the foliage. Wherefore, though 

 the beauty of the flower is gone, nature ought not 

 to be hindered in her work of ripening, that there 

 may be beauty for another year. After the stems 

 are well decayed, they may be cleared away; but the 

 roots are not to be taken up. Having removed the 

 stalks by cutting two or three inches above the 

 ground, let the earth be gathered from both sides 

 over the roots, into the form of a potato drill, and 

 beaten smooth, so as to turn the rain and save from 

 frost. Towards the end of November the roots may 

 be taken up plump and ripe from their dry bed, and 

 shaken clear of mould, like potatoes gathered with 

 clean skins a good sign of safe keeping. The roots 

 are too succulent to keep well by lying on the floor, 

 as any bruise thus sustained is the commencement of 

 decay; but those that are large and strong agree 

 with suspension from the ceiling of a room inacces- 

 sible to frost. But stored in boxes, with alternate 



