190 
THE LADIES' FLOWER-GARDEN 
without breaking the ball ; and the empty flower-pot should be turned over the young plant, to prevent too 
much evaporation from the leaves. As the plants grow, they should be carefully trained, so as to admit the sun 
and air to the centre of the plant ; and this is done by tying the stems to stakes fixed in the ground. Sometimes 
only a single stake is used, to which is tied the main stem of the plant. In whatever way stakes may be used, 
they should be driven a foot and a half or two feet into the ground before the Dahlias are planted ; as, if this be 
not done, there is danger of wounding the tubers in driving the stakes into the ground. The stems are tied 
rather loosely at first to the stakes with bast matting, which is frequently taken ofiF and replaced, as the stems 
increase, till they have attained their full size. Sometimes, particularly with dwarf Dahlias, the stems are 
pegged down to the beds, and tliis plan, when the soil is dry, produces a brilliant efiect. Where the object is to 
produce fine flowers, either for exhibition or seeds, part of the buds and the tips of the shoots are occasionally 
removed. "Where numerous small but early flowers are wanted, the soil should be sandy or gravelly, mixed with 
a very little loam. Many cultivators shade their flowers when they are intended for exhibition, as both sun and 
rain will injure the delicacy of the colours. 
The plants will generally continue to produce flowers till their leaves and stems become blackened by 
frost ; and as soon as this is the case, they should be cut down nearly to the surface of the ground ; and, the first 
fine dry weather that occurs, the tubers should be taken up in the morning and left exposed to the sun during 
the day. In the evening they must be taken to a dry airy place where they will be safe from frost, and kept 
there till they are dry enough to have all the soil removed from them, which may be done with a soft brush. 
They must then be buried in sand, sawdust, or some similar material, and deposited in a dry cellar, a garret, or 
under the stage of a greenhouse, provided they can be kept dry there ; the great objects to be kept in view being 
dryness, security from frost, and a moderately cool temperature, which should never rise above 45°, nor sink 
below 36". Labels with the name of each Dahlia should be affixed to each fascicle of tubers when it is removed 
from the ground ; and these labels are generally of zinc, attached by wire. 
Dahlias are propagated either by dividing the fascicles of tubers, by cuttings, or by seeds. By the first mode, 
the roots are planted either in the ground, or in pots plunged in a hotbed, till they are started — that is, till they 
begin to grow ; they are then taken up, and the tubers cut or pulled asunder, taking care that there is a bud or 
eye to each. Those which have no buds are termed blind tubers, and they may have buds inserted from other 
plants, either by cleft or peg grafting. The cuttings are either slipped ofi" from started tubers with a portion of 
the tuber attached, or made like cuttings of other plants, by taking off part of a shoot in summer. In both cases, 
they require what is called bottom heat, that is, plunging the pot into a hotbed, to make them strike. Summer 
cuttings are rarely made, unless it be of some new and very choice sort, as the stems are too succulent to strike 
easily. The seeds should be sown on a slight hotbed, in February or March, or in a warm border in the (^pen 
garden. The seedlings must be transplanted into beds, as soon as they have four or six leaves, or they will be 
drawn up and become weak. 
1.— DAHLIA VARIABILIS, Dec. THE VARIABLE DAHLIA. 
Synonvmes. — D. superflua, Ait, ; D. pinnata, Cav. ; D. sambuci- 
folia, Sal. ; Georgina purpurea^ Willd. ; Dahlia pourpre, Thouin. 
Enghivings. — Bot. Mag. t. 1885, A & B ; Bot. Reg. t. 55 ; anil 
Description, &c. — This species is the origin of nearly all the numerous Dahlias now in cultivation. The 
wild flower had a purple ray of eight nearly flat florets, and a yellow disk. The varieties are, however, single. 
our Plate 46, in which it is called D. superflua. 
Specific Character. — Stem not hoary. Flowers of the ray fertile, 
as well as those of the disk. 
