42 CULTIVATION 
plain which side should be laid upwards. The sprout 
will grow into a fine plant if it is not planted pointing 
upwards, just as potatoes do, but the most careful grow- 
ers have always made every effort to place the sprout 
side uppermost, and their practice is worthy of consid- 
eration. When the sprout is underneath the tuber and 
has to turn about to make its way to the surface the 
stem is naturally longer, and the turn makes a more 
confused growth among the tubers, and renders broken 
necks more likely when dug. 
Twenty-one days are usually required to bring the 
sprouts above ground, after the tuber is planted. In 
a dry season a longer time may be needed. Some vari- 
eties seem exceptionally dormant; tubers naturally 
thin-skinned dry out more than others during winter 
storage; and a longer time in the ground is needed for 
them to wake up. Excellent plants have often come 
through the ground forty-five days after planting. 
The Irish have a helpful proverb: ' 'What's natural 
cannot be desperate." The dahlia beginner and ama- 
teur should take it to heart. Some dahlias flourish in 
certain regions and soils, while fifty or one hundred 
miles away they are failures. Melody (the decorative), 
is such a variety. This is the "natural" condition 
under which one has to try out the alluringly advertised 
and truly wonderful and beautiful newer varieties. 
Change of climate, excess of food and irritation, are the 
three main factors producing change and variation in 
