43 BULBOUS AND TUBEROUS PLANTS. 



they may be kept in boxes or drawers until the season 

 of planting again. 



The tender tuberous roots, such as Dahlias, and the 

 like, will have to be taken up before the cold becomes 

 severe. As the Dahlia exhibits its flowers in all their 

 splendour, until nipped by the frost, the roots ought, 

 in the event of a very sudden attack, to be secured from 

 its blighting effects. They are not apt to keep well, 

 if taken up before they are ripened ; the tops should, 

 therefore, be cut down as soon as they have done 

 flowering, and the ground covered around the roots, 

 with dung or litter ; this will enable them to ripen 

 without being injured by frost ; and in about a week 

 after being cut down, or on the appearance of severe 

 weather, they should be dug up and packed in dry 

 sand, and then stowed away in a dry place out of the 

 reach of frost. The temperature suited to keep green- 

 house plants will preserve them in good order. Some 

 people complain of the difficulty of keeping Dahlia 

 roots through the winter. I am of opinion that they 

 are often killed from being taken up before they are 

 ripe, and then put in a confined damp place ; or are 

 by some, perhaps, subjected to the other extreme, and 

 dried to a husk. I keep mine on shelves in the 

 greenhouse, and seldom lose one in a hundred. If it 

 be an object with the cultivator to have the names 

 perpetuated from year to year, each plant should have 

 a small label affixed to the old stalk, by means of small 

 brass wire, as twine is very apt to get rotten. 



Cape Bulbs, and such tuberous roots as are culti- 



