48 The Amateur's Book of the Dahlia 



the direct rays of the sun. Some of the large 

 growers use sawdust over the tubers in the 

 place of soil, in order to save the labour of weeding 

 hundreds of feet of bench space. This is not 

 to be recommended for the amateur or in the 

 case of rare varieties, as the tubers, being unable 

 to derive nourishment from the sawdust, become 

 exhausted and are useless for planting afterward. 

 Second cuttings taken from plants grown in 

 sawdu'st are poor and weakly, and can never give 

 satisfaction. It is a poor method at best, and 

 not one used by the commercial grower except 

 to get plants for his own use. 



The length of time which the tuber takes to 

 sprout varies greatly with the types. In from 

 two to five weeks some of the little shoots show 

 three pairs of leaves. I know men who always 

 nip off the end of the shoot as soon as the first 

 joint appears, stating that the terminal of the 

 first shoot makes a poor plant. Unless the shoot 

 is thick and hollow, I do not find this so, but use 

 it as my best cutting. The terminal flower of a 

 dahlia plant is invariably the finest of the bush 

 unless it has been blighted by some accident. 

 If there are many shoots, cut the thickest off 

 close to the tuber when three joints have formed, 

 and root it in a pot of soil. 



Cut the sprouts off between the first and 



