52 The Amateur's Book of the Dahlia 



it from the soil. The pot is then plunged into 

 warm, wet sand in order to root the cutting. 

 Transplanting from the rooting bench is thus 

 obviated, as the plant continues to grow in the 

 same pot from the very beginning. This is 

 often done in the growing of "pot roots," of 

 which more later. 



While the first lot of cuttings are rooting in the 

 sand, the joints of the shoots left on the plants 

 have thrown out two new shoots each. These 

 in turn may be taken off when three sets of leaves 

 have formed, always leaving a joint behind. 



Every time a cutting is taken. Mother Nature 

 provides two more shoots to take its place. The 

 temptation to go on and on, ever producing more 

 plants, is often too great for a grower to resist. 

 These poor, weak, last-grown plants have caused 

 the death-knell of many a promising variety, for 

 the purchaser will naturally discard them when 

 they fail. 



Every tuber is provided with just so much 

 strength. That strength becomes exhausted 

 after many cuttings have been taken, and fur- 

 ther plants are weak and sickly. They produce 

 poor flowers and seldom have a tuber which 

 will "carry on " to next year. Four, or possibly 

 six, plants from each shoot is all that is safe to 

 make. 



