46 The Amateur's Book of the Dahlia 



A very small tuber, provided it is healthy, will 

 make as good a plant as, if not better than, a 

 larger one. All the tuber is for is to give the 

 shoot a start in life — ^new tubers will develop 

 directly afterward. The monster tubers, even 

 though they send out thick, strong shoots at 

 first, are not so valuable, imless cut down to 

 less than half. They are the mother tubers of 

 the year before, sometimes two or three years 

 old, and are often hollow. The vigorous shoots 

 soon become hardened and "woody," and 

 blooms from such plants are poor and imperfect. 

 Cutting these large ones down causes the plant 

 to form new tubers, and the old piece disappears 

 during the summer. 



Tubers should be very carefully packed for 

 shipment. The eye should be well protected 

 against injury or breakage in case it has grown 

 to any length. It should be kept a bit moist 

 if it is to travel any distance. Some growers 

 merely send them rolled up in paper packed in 

 an ordinary box; and if luck is with the recipient 

 they are still alive on reaching their destination. 



The best way, however, is to wrap a bit of 

 moist sphagnum moss around the eye and roll the 

 whole tuber in waxed paper. The paper pro- 

 tects against breakage and keeps the moisture 

 in. Ship small tubers if possible; not because 



