240 Account of the Genus Dahlia. 



Where any particular variety is approved, and an increase 

 is desired, it may be made by cuttings of the young shoots 

 of the branches, taken off the plant, as soon as may be, 

 after its merit has been ascertained by its flowering ; these 

 cuttings will readily strike in a moderate heat, under cover 

 of a hand-glass ; in a favourable season, they will grow in 

 plain earth, under a glass ; such cuttings, in either case, if 

 made in good time, will form roots and tubers before the 

 autumn. 



Soon after the leaves and young branches of the plants 

 have been destroyed by the frost, they should be cut down ; 

 those which are to be left in the ground, must be protected 

 by small heaps of dead leaves, or tan, and if kept quite free 

 from the attack of frost, or injury by damp, will grow well 

 the next season. But it will in general be advisable, espe- 

 cially with the more valuable kinds, to raise them from the 

 ground with their roots and tubers entire, retaining a small 

 portion of the stem attached ; to plant them in pots in dry 

 mould, and so keep them in the back of a green-house, or 

 other dry and airy place, free from the access of frost, until 

 the spring. The object in the preservation of the roots 

 during the winter, is to keep them sufficiently moist, to pre- 

 serve them plump, and yet not so as to be rotted by damp, 

 or spoiled by frost ; any situation therefore, where this can 

 be effected, will answer equally with the more troublesome 

 plan of potting each root : they will do very well if laid on 

 a cool floor in a green-house, or fruit-room, and may be 

 then covered with coal-ashes, sand, or other dry substance, 

 but when thus covered, they should be placed with their 

 crowns erect, and exposed to the air ; the under parts of the 



