944 THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. \NoV. 



pots from being broken by the expansion of frost, as well as 

 the pLints being injured by too much moisture. Those which 

 were placed under cover last month should now be frequently 

 looked over, and all dead or decaying leaves or stems removed, 

 as well as all mouldiness upon the surface of the mould in the 

 pots : any thing tending to encourage decay should be care- 

 fully removed. Many of the more rare species should have 

 the sm'face of the mould in the pots covered with fine sharp 

 sand, or small fragments of porous stone or brick-bats, to act 

 as absorbers of superabundant moisture. The glasses or 

 covers should now be kept on during damp and wet days, and 

 almost always during night, in order more effectually to guard 

 against damp or too much moisture, of which most Alpine 

 plants, in a state of cultivation, are impatient in autumn and 

 winter. 



DRESSING THE BORDERS IN THE ELOW^ER GARDEN. 



The flower garden borders should now be dug over, and 

 the surface, where there are not plants the roots of which 

 might be injured by frost, left as rough as possible, so that 

 the frost and weather may have the more power to act upon it, 

 in order to render it more friable and in better condition for 

 planting the following year. 



TAKING UP DAHLIAS. 



By the beginning of the month the frost will most probably 

 have cut up the dahlias, which they cannot resist for any 

 length of time ; indeed they are amongst the first plants which 

 bear evidence of the frosts of the preceding night. Being 

 natives of ]\Iexico, it is necessary that we protect their roots 

 from the attacks of frost. When the stems are destroyed, 

 they should be cut down and removed ; the roots should be 

 left in the ground, when it is not intended that they should be 

 taken up for the purpose of dividing or transplanting, as expe- 

 rience proves that roots left in the ground produce their flowers 

 earlier the succeeding season (which with this plaiU is a desi- 

 deratum) than if they were taken up and preserved in a house 



