0FTHEDAHL1A 25 
Cultivation commences when the tuber is planted. 
Then, if the dahlia grower, whether amateur or com- 
mercial, knows his business, the soil receives thorough 
preparation. It should be plowed seven inches at least 
in preparation for planting, and if this is done in the 
fall, and again in the spring, all the better for dahlias. 
Dahlias are deep root crops, and for fine tuber produc- 
tion, which is more than half the harvest, a loose, 
friable, deeply stirred soil is required. Two weeks after 
planting, since it requires three weeks for the shoots to 
appear, the soil surface can be stirred with a rake, to 
break up any tendency to cake or bake, and incidentally 
kill any weed seedlings that may by this time have 
started germinating. As soon as the dahlia shoots are 
through the ground, go over the plantation thoroughly. 
Never let a weed get so much as a start, and keep the 
surface finely pulverized. Just as soon after a rain as 
the soil can be worked, before it begins to show a 
smooth, dried-out appearance, break it up finely with 
hoe or rake. Glay soils will cake and bake very quickly 
with a few days of sunshine, after rain, and this hurtful 
condition cannot fail to be seen, and must be immedi- 
ately remedied, if you have not been wise enough to 
have prevented it. In clay soils a rainy summer means 
the use of hoe or rake or horse drawn cultivator after 
every rainstorm, as soon as the water sinks sufficiently 
into the soil to allow tools to be used without becoming 
"gummed up" with the adhesive clay mud. In such 
