CHAPTER VIII 



CULTIVATING, WATERING, DISBRANCHING, DIS- 

 BUDDING DAHLIAS IN TUBS 



HOT weather has come. Plants and tubers 

 are all set out, and we must watch the 

 babies with tender care. If a drought has 

 started, each may have a good drink of water — 

 a gallon or two to each plant just once, and a 

 mulch of loose, dry soil afterward. 



From then on the hoe or cultivator should be 

 used regularly. Not a weed must be allowed 

 to poke its nose out. All the precious moisture 

 should be conserved down deep where it is 

 needed. Keep the soil loose and friable so that 

 the young roots may push their way in any 

 direction they choose. Use a five-pronged cul- 

 tivator, and with it, during June and early July, 

 dig deep. After that the tubers begin to swell, 

 and if the fork should damage them the plant 

 is seriously injured — seldom recovering its full 

 strength again. At this time the fork need only 

 go in two or three inches, loosening the soil, to 

 destroy the weeds and mulch the roots. The 



97 



