Book II. 



DAHLIA. 



845 



flowers, they are in perfection at a season when, till they came into notice, our gardens 

 had but little ornament. The roots are edible, but not agreeable. 

 6330. The varieties are exceedingly numerous. 



The leading varieties of the fertile-rayed 

 s\)ecies,D.superJhia,are the puri)le,rose, 

 pale, white, sulnhur, yellow, tawny, 

 copper, brick-red, dark-red, pomegra- 

 nate-colored, dark-purple, very dark, 

 and lilac flowered single, semi-double. 



and double, with innnmerable sub- 

 varieties. 



Of the barren-rayed species, D.fnisiranea, 

 there are the scarlet, bright-scarlet, 

 orange, saffron, and yellow flowered, 

 single, semi-double, and double, with 



several subvarieties, though this spe- 

 cies has not sported nearly so much as 

 the other. 



At the Hammersmith nursery, above 

 '200 sorts may be procured. 



6331. Criterion of a good dahlia. The plant short, stiff, and bushy, prolific in flowers 

 having short peduncles ; the flower well expanded and standing boldly to the view, and 

 the colors clear and distinct, 



6332. Propagation. By dividing the roots, and by cuttings for ordinary purposes ; and by seed for new 

 varieties and also for increasing the stock of this plant, as the seedlings flower the first year. In dividing 

 the root care must be liad to preserve a bud to each section, otherwise, though the tubers will throw out 

 roots, they will not produce leaves. 



6oii3. By cuttings. Take these from the root-shoots in spring, or the tops of the young shoots, as early 

 in summer as may be ; cut the lower end smoothly off in the middle of a joint, and leave the leaves on 

 the top, excepting such as would be buried in planthig the cutting. Plant in sandy earth on heat, and 

 cover with a hand-glass, and they will strike and produce both flowers and tubers before the autumn. 



6334. By grafting. This mode of propagating herbaceous vegetables has been known for some time on 

 the continent, and practised, as we have seen (2022.), to a considerable extent by the Baron Tschoudi. 

 In this country it seems to have been first adopted by Blake, in 1820, as a more speedy mode of pro- 

 pagating double-flowering plants than striking them by cuttings. The following are the details of his 

 practice : " The cutting intended for the graft should be strong, and short-jointed, having on it two or 

 more joints or buds ; it must be also procured as soon in the season as possible ; when obtained, select a 

 good tuber of a single sort, taking especial care that it has no eyes ; with a sharp knife (for a dull edge 

 would mangle the fleshy root, make it jagged, and so prevent a complete adhesion), cut off a slice from 

 the upper part of the root, making at the bottom of the part so cut, a ledge whereon to rest the graft ; 

 this is recommended because you cannot tongue the graft as you do a wood-shoot; apd the ledge is useful 

 in keeping the cutting fixed in its place while you tie it; next cut the scion sloping, to fit, and cut 

 it so that a joint may be at the bottom of it, to rest on the aforesaid ledge ; a union may be effected 

 without the ledge, provided the graft can be well fixed to the tuber, but the work will not then be so 

 neat. It is of advantage, though not absolutely necessary, that a joint should be at the end of the scion, 

 for the scion will occasionally put forth new roots from that lower joint ; the stem is formed from the 

 upper joint. I therefore procure the cuttings with the two lower joints as near together as possible. After 

 the graft has been tied, a piece of fine clay, such as is used for common grafting, must be placed round 

 it : then pot the root in fine mould, in a pot of such a size as will bury the graft half way in the mould ; 

 place the pot on a little heat in the front of a cucumber or melon frame, if you chance to have one in 

 work at the time ; I prefer the front for the greater convenience of shading and watering which are re- 

 quired. A striking glass may be put over the graft, or not, as you please. In about three weeks the 

 root should be shifted into a larger pot, if it be too soon to plant it in the border, which will probably be 

 the case; for supposing the work was begun in March, the plant cannot go out till the end of May, 

 so that the shifting will be very essential to promote its growth till the proper season of planting out shall 

 arrive." {Hart. Trans, vol. iv. 476.) 



6335. By seed. The following directions are extracted from an excellent paper on this subject {Hort. 

 Trans, vol. 238.) by Sabine. Collect the seeds in September from the dwarf plants, where no preference 

 exists on other accounts, and from semi-double flowers when double varieties are chiefly desired. Per- 

 haps seeds obtained froni those particulai" florets of the disc which have altered their form, may have 

 a greater tendency than others to produce plants with double flowers. Sow in March, or earlier, on a 

 heat of 55° or 6.5° ; the young plants to be pricked out, if necessary, in pots, and kept in a moderate tem- 

 perature, say 50° or ,55°, till the end of April. Now plant out where they are to remain, covering each 

 plant at night with an empty pot for some weeks, to avoid injury from spring frosts. If in a compartment 

 by themselves, plant in rows three feet wide, and at two feet distance in the row : if in the flower- 

 border, plant in the back rows. In either case they require to be staked. Seedlings thus treated will 

 blow in July, and continue in perfection till the autumn ; but the first frost takes the same effect on the 

 dahlia as it does on the potatoe and kidneybean. A blow may be prolonged by planting in large pots and 

 removing early in autumn to the green-house. 



Soil and situation. Dahlias thrive best in rich loam, and a clear open space, neither sheltered by 

 trees or walls. Like the potatoe, they exhaust the soil considerably, and do not thrive well when re- 

 peatedly planted on the same spot. 



6337. Planting full-groimi roots. These may either be planted on the spot where they are to flower, 

 early in April, and protected by covering with litter or by empty pots, as in transplanting seedlings ; or, 

 when an early blow is wanted, they may be planted in large pots and forwarded in frames or pits, or in 

 any spare house, with a temperature equal to that of the green-house, till the middle of May, when they 

 may be planted where they are finally to remain, and will flower in June. Sabine says, " Dahlias 

 look best in a large mass, unmixed with other plants ; in this plan of growing them, some nicety is re- 

 quired in the due distribution of the sorts, so as to have a proper and good mixture of colors ; and par- 

 ticular care is necessary to keep the tallest plants either in the centre or at the back of the clump, 

 according as it is destined to be viewed, from one side only, or all sides, and to place the whole so that 

 there shall be no unevenness in the general shape of the entire mass, arising from the irregular arrange- 

 ment of the individual plants, according to their respective heights. The roots should be planted about 

 three feet from each other every way ; this distance will keep each sufficiently distinct, and yet so 

 united that the whole clump will have the appearance of an unbroken wood or forest of dahlias. 

 They look very handsome if planted in the manner of an avenue, in a straight line, on each side of a 

 walk." 



6338. General culture. No particular care is requisite after the plants are neatly tied to stakes, till 

 they have been attacked by the frost, they should then be cut down and the roots covered with as much 

 haulm, old tan, or leaves, as would be necessary to keep the frost from the tubers of a potatoe-plant left 

 in the soil. If this is done, they will blow well and early next season. But the most general way, espe- 

 cially witif the valuable sorts, is to dig up tlie roots with a portion of the stem attached, and plant or bed 

 thcnn in pots or boxes among sand or dry mould, and keep them vmder the stage of a green-house, or in 

 some dry airy place, free from the access ol frost, till the spring On a large scale, they may be pitted 

 like potatoes, or packed m ridges with sand in cellars, and covered with straw ; the object being to keep 

 them sufficiently moist and plump to maintain the living principle, and yet not to rot them, or have thera 

 destroyed by frost. 



