68 



growth causes them to produce more perfect centres. 

 Flowers that usually come thin after their first blos- 

 soms, as Lady St. Maur, and Beauty of Sussex, 

 should be planted in the most open situation and in a 

 heavier soil than that best suited to the others. 



Mr. Glenny says, that the dahlia grows and blooms 

 to perfection in the soil of a newly turned up meadow, 

 and, generally speaking, nourishes wherever the 

 ground yields a good turnip or cabbage. The space 

 intended to be planted should be trenched, dressed, 

 and thrown up in ridges, from the time the plants are 

 removed in autumn until it is time to replant them 

 in spring. If the soil be light, it is necessary to 

 dress it with good, rich, loam and dung — such as the 

 top spit of a meadow, and the decomposed dung from 

 old hotbeds. If there is any difficulty in dressing the 

 whole of the ground, dig out holes, eighteen inches 

 deep, and three feet diameter, and mix the stuff with 

 the dressing as you return it to the hole. If the soil 

 be on a bed of gravel, it will be absolutely necessary 

 to remove it, at least to the depth above mentioned, 

 and to make good the hole with all soil ; if you cannot, 

 with all soil and dressing, for the gravel so near the 

 root would be fatal. (Gard. and Flor, i. 21.) 



If the preparation of an artificial soil be necessary, 

 the following, employed by the King of Prussia's gar- 

 dener, M. Fintelman, is as good as any : — One part of 

 the natural sandy soil from his garden, one part of 



