316 Culture of the Dahlia. 



CULTURE OF THE DAHLIA. 



October is the month for taking up the tubers of the Dah- 

 lia. The following directions for their preservation, and f 0r 

 the cultivation and propagation of the plant, are concise and 

 simple, and may be acceptable to the many admirers of this 

 handsome flower. 



The soil should be composed of equal parts of sand and 

 loam, enriched with part of an old hot-bed, some very rotten 

 cow-dung, or decayed leaves. Fresh stable-dung is unsuitable 

 as it will produce strong stems and large leaves rather than 

 fine flowers. The ground should be well drained, as, though 

 Dahlias require plenty of moisture, they are soon killed if their 

 roots have access to stagnant water. Many cultivators put a 

 deep layer of stones and brick-bats at the bottom of the bed so 

 as to prevent the possibility o^ water accumulating about the 

 roots. The tubers, having been kept in a dry and moderately 

 cool place during the winter, are generally planted in pots in 

 February or March, and plunged into a slight hot-bed, to start 

 them, as the florists term it. They are afterwards removed to 

 the open ground, when they have begun to grow. Or the 

 tubers may be planted at once in the open ground without 

 starting; the tall kinds in May or June, and the dwarf earlv 

 flowerers in April. The tubers should be planted in rows, 

 about two or three feet apart every way; or in quincunx, 

 about five feet apart in the row, and the rows three feet apart. 

 The situation of the bed should be open and exposed to the sun ; 

 and if the weather prove dry, the young plants should be fre- 

 quently and regularly watered. In planting, care should be 

 taken to arrange the tubers so that the colors may harmonize 

 agreeably. Thus the purples and crimsons, and the crimsons 

 and scarlets, may be separated by yellow, while, or buff, and 

 the salmon-colored and buff may be separated by white. 

 Dahlias will degenerate if grown more than one year in the 

 same bed without fresh soil or manure. When those which 

 have been started in pots are planted, all the earth in the pot 

 should be turned into the hole made to receive it, without 



