94 



later and more strongly when not raised in heat ; yet, 

 to have early flowers a hotbed is necessary. Keep 

 the tubers dry and warm, and so soon as they start 

 pot them, leaving the crowns about one inch above 

 the soil. When the shoots are sufficiently long, shift 

 them into large 60-sized pots, and keep them in a 

 room having a south aspect, but without fire. They 

 will flower from early in June until the end of Novem- 

 ber. (Gard. Chron. 1845, 70.) 



We have already averted to the groundless condem- 

 nation with which the florist is occasionally visited, 

 because the plants furnished by him to the amateur, 

 do not, the first season, appear to have the excellent 

 qualities possessed by its parent. We alluded to the 

 causes of this, and warned our readers against a 

 hasty conclusion ; but since those observations were 

 penned, we have met with the following excellent 

 observations by Dr. Lindley, and as they relate to the 

 consequences of forcing the dahlia, they may be here 

 introduced appropriately. 



The dahlia, observes Dr. Lindley, when it first 

 springs from a seed, begins to form a fleshy-fingered 

 root, in which is immediately stored up the organiz- 

 able matter elaborated by the leaves, and out of 

 w r hich the flower is to be formed. If the summer 

 is long and warm, or circumstances are otherwise 

 favourable, this plant will flower the first year, but 

 feebly, and by no means so well as it will at a later 



