DAHLIA 
not for fertilizer, and coal ashes are practically worth- 
less as such. Their only function is to render hard 
soils loose and friable. Quantitites of gravel and sand 
are to be preferred, but coal ashes have served many 
well. One grower in Colorado reports unsatisfactory 
and even harmful results from the use of coal ashes. He 
is sure that the coal used in his locality contains hurtful 
alkaline substances. At any rate the ashes are suffici- 
ently corrosive to destroy the cement or brick linings 
of ash pits in a few years. He urges the utmost caution 
in the use of coal ashes, unless local experience has 
shown the practice to be harmless. 
Because the dahlia is so wonderfully accommo- 
dating it does not follow that it v/ill grow and flourish 
and profusely flower "if planted in any old kind of 
soil, in any old way, and cared for in any old way." 
In good, average, and particularly in rich garden soil 
no fertilizer should be used at planting time. The soil is 
fertile enough for luxuriant production of stem and foli- 
age. The addition of fertilizers rich in nitrogen in the 
spring would mean too much foliage, and later disap- 
pointment, because of scarcity of blooms in the autumn. 
But be sure that your soil is right. It would be poor 
counsel to advocate the withholding of fertilizers at 
planting time everywhere. Every organism, vegetable 
as well as animal, must have nourishment, and some 
soils are extremely sterile. They have been worn out 
by many crops, with no returns of plant food, or they 
