84 The Amateur's Book of the Dahlia 



inches high do not suflFer at all if the mercury 

 shows 30° for a night or two in succession. The 

 tubers are potted in light soil early in May, 

 placed in a cold frame, and allowed to grow 

 slowly until proper planting time. Care should 

 be exercised, when shifting the plants from the 

 pots to the open grovmd, to disturb the young 

 fibrous roots as little as possible. Plants made 

 from cuttings may be set out at the same time 

 as the tubers instead of later. In that cool 

 climate the bushes must be hurried into bloom 

 rather than be held back, as is necessary farther 

 south, and everything short of actual forcing 

 should be done to that end. 



Unless dahlia roots are stored under ideal con- 

 ditions, it is very diflBcult to keep them from 

 starting into growth long before it is time to 

 plant them. I find that separating the tubers 

 will check their ambition somewhat, but after 

 separating they should be buried deep in cool 

 sand until planting time. K they persist in 

 sprouting, the young shoots may be cut back to 

 within an inch of the tuber. Never break a 

 shoot off unless there is another eye to take its 

 place — ^for nothing more will grow from the 

 wound. 



Late in the winter when instinct (and the 

 deluge of catalogues) stirs that indescribable 



