110 



USES. 



Eve^ part of the dahlia may be usefully employed 

 in times of need. 



Stalks and Leaves. — In Prussia, these have been 

 found to make a wholesome food for pigs, sheep, and 

 asses ; they are also eaten by deer and cows, and 

 they are, in a dried state, readily eaten by lambs and 

 young goats. When cultivated as cattle food, the 

 stalks may be cut over two or three times in one 

 season. The tubers may be eaten both by men and 

 cattle, but they are neither so agreeable nor so nou- 

 rishing as those of the potato. {Prussian Hort. 

 Trans, i.) 



The Tubers. — The reason of these not being palat- 

 able, though those of the congenous plant, the Jeru- 

 salem Artichoke, are generally relished, arises from 

 the former containing a bitter principle of so acrid a 

 nature, that its general employment as food has always 

 been hitherto despaired of. The Journal de Charn- 

 bery states, however, that this bitter principle is re- 

 moved by boiling, much in the same manner as the 

 potato is cooked. If this be so — but we have no ex- 

 perience on the point — the dahlia root might, in some 

 measure, be substituted for the potato during times of 

 scarcity. (Medical Times.) 



Flowers. — We have seen a specimen of a kind of 



