4 1 6 Propag a t ion of Da hlias. 



be too strongly recommended, as being much inferior to gravel, or 

 indeed any other material : such walks are always clean, always 

 firm, and, if properly formed, always dry; and, once made, they 

 will last as long as the garden. The walk that leads from the 

 kitchen to the flower-garden crosses a plot of nursery-ground, 

 beneath an arch of green-gage plum trees, which produce a large 

 quantity of good fruit. 



The pleasure-ground is small, and is also rather encumbered 

 with trees, some of which, as the fern-leaved and copper-leaved 

 beeches, cypress, and one cedar of Lebanon, are fine specimens. 

 There are two conservatories in the grounds : one a tawdry 

 specimen on the old plan of upright front lights and opaque 

 roof; the other a large lean-to house, which is about to be taken 

 down, and a new one erected, connected with the new house. 



The flower-garden chiefly consists of a group of variously 

 formed beds, surrounding a fountain and a sort of stone grotto. 

 As a proof that some evergreens might be safely transplanted 

 during the season of growth, I may mention that two very large 

 trees of Magnolm grandiflora, which formerly grew against the 

 old mansion, were successfully removed in the month of June ; 

 they have since been transplanted a second time, and are still 

 likely to live. — Jan. 20. 1841. 



Art. V. On the Propagation oj" Dahlias. By R. Lymburn. 



Much has been said against nursei'ymen for their too great 

 avidity in propagating dahlias, and perhaps we may be al- 

 lowed to say a few words in our own exculpation. It was at 

 first roundly asserted that the roots produced from cuttings 

 would not push next year, and that nurserymen who sold these 

 roots were only deceiving their customers. When it was shown 

 that roots from cuttings did grow, it was next asserted that no 

 cutting roots would spring, unless the cuttings were pulled out 

 by the sockets ; and next, that, unless the shoot were pared off 

 quite close to the buds, so as to let them be included in the 

 crown of the root, it would not spring next year. To this it was 

 answered, that, though the shoot were pared quite close to the 

 buds, it would elongate in the act of growing, and the buds 

 would still generally bear the stem ; that more than these buds 

 were shown in the root, and often far down in the tubers ; and 

 that, consequently and more especially, the buds were formed 

 in the root at the time of ripening, as even old roots on rich 

 land, and not well ripened, did not produce buds. That the 

 vital power residing in the latex, or blood of the plant, is suffi- 

 cient to form buds, no one can doubt who has observed the 

 matter extravasated at times from the stems of geraniums, 

 dahlias, &c., and the stumps of old trees. At first it is only a 



