injury will be done to some kinds, as good to others. 

 Those that are generally too large and coarse must 

 be spared ; when such varieties as require size only 

 should be thinned considerably. No precise rule 

 can be laid down ; and nothing but close observa- 

 tion in this important particular will enable the ope- 

 rator to practice it successfully. 



Nearly the same rules apply to disbudding. Those 

 requiring to be reduced in size must be left until a 

 later period of their growth, which will bring the 

 flowers more compact, with smaller petals, and better 

 general form. 



"We know that we are in opposition to the opinions of 

 some, in thus recommending very slight dahlia pruning, 

 for it is a common notion that, the more you cut away 

 of a dahlia, the more you invigorate the remainder. 

 Nothing can be more erroneous, says Mr. Glenny, than 

 the adoption of such extreme measures. The only 

 pruning a dahlia should have, is the shortening of 

 those branches which impede other branches, and the 

 removal of superfluous flower buds. It is desirable 

 to prune shoots and leaves which are likely to touch 

 a flower, for the friction of a leaf is quite enough to 

 destroy a bloom ; but, beyond the convenience, the 

 shapeliness, and free growth, of all the parts of the 

 plant which require the occasional removal of shoots, 

 nothing more should be done to strengthen any par- 

 ticular bloom than the stopping of any shoot that is 



