JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER . 
[ October 29, 1897'. 
370 
ON KEEPING DAHLIAS. 
The popularity of the Dahlia ig deservedly increasing, and as 
there are numbers who have only the slightest knowledge of how 
to treat the tubers in order to keep them through the winter 
months a few notes just at present may be acceptable. That it is 
possible to keep the tubers in the best condition there can be no 
doubt, as for many years I have been in the habit of storing a large 
number—several hundreds—and it is quite exceptional that any 
are lost. I do not give any particular reason for this, as I believe 
the method of culture generally has much to do with success in 
safe wintering. Thus all the tubers are old—that is to say, they 
are not from cuttings of the same year, as my practice is not to 
produce my stock from cuttings, but by division of the tubers. 
The primary reason for doing this was to ensure their safe keeping 
during winter, as I found that the larger and better ripened the 
tuber the less danger there was of los3. But I also had the satis¬ 
faction of having plants in flower quite a month earlier by this 
method, and in the case of shy-flowering Cactus sorts this is no 
mean gain. 
With new sorts bought as spring-rooted plants the pots are 
merely plunged, but deep enough to allow a free growth of roots. 
Treated thus, these keep as well as the others. When the plants 
are cut to prepare for removal quite 15 to 18 inches of stem is left, 
and I like to leave the tubers awhile in the ground after having 
been cut, s© that the dormant buds may be a little more pronounced 
than if the roots were lifted at once. When they are lifted all the 
soil that rises with them is left, and I invariably find that the best 
preserved tubers are those which are stored with soil attached to 
them. 
During winter absolute dryness is essential. Ours are stored in 
a shed where there is always a little heat, so that no damp i 3 
possible. In spring the tubers shrivel somewhat, but I have not 
noticed that this has been prejudicial. During the month of 
March if very dry they are watered perhaps two separate times, 
and by the beginning of April most of them are fairly prominent. 
I used to defer planting until the beginning of May, but this year 
I took an opportunity early in April to put out the tubers, setting 
them much in the same way as “ started ” Potatoes, and the plants 
did well, being sturdy, dwarf, and early flowering. I may add 
that although there is 200 feet super in which the tubers are stored 
I find it necessary with some of the sorts, such as Glare of the 
Garden, Juarezi, Chilwell Beauty, and the Old White, of which a 
large number of each is grown, to bank them up three or four deep, 
but being always dry they keep perfectly well.—B. 
CIDER. 
We have for some time had what appears to be an excellent 
little American handbook* on making cider awaiting notice, and 
at the present time a few extracts from the work will not be inap¬ 
propriate. They will also indicate the nature of the book, and 
those of our readers who desire detailed information on making 
cider may advantageously consult its pages. 
Relative to varieties of Apples and management the author 
observes :— 
“ It is a general rule that ‘ the better the Apple the better the 
ciderbut this is not to be understood as meaning that the Apples 
best for eating are always best for cider-making. It is certain, 
however, that poor, watery, or flavourless Apples can never yield 
good cider, and it is equally certain that such Apples as the Spitzen- 
berg, Seek-no-farther, Rhode Island Greening, Tompkins County 
King, and Swaar, all of which are among the best table fruits, do 
make most excellent cider. But there is another class of Apples, 
comprising Russets and Crabs, which make the best of cider, and 
yet are_never of the highest quality for table use. They assuredly 
do attain in time to a condition which admits of presenting them 
at table, but it is at a season when the other varieties, better liked 
for that purpose, are generally gone, and the Apple-lover must use 
Russets And Crabs, or wait another harvest. 
“Of whatever variety of Apples cider is made, it is of the 
greatest importance that the fruit be carried to the highest matu¬ 
rity before that work begins. The French recognise three stages 
in the maturing process, which they denominate severally ‘ Matu¬ 
rity of vegetation ’ (growth), ‘Maturity of honeying’ (ripening), 
and ‘ Maturity of expectation,” which, being rather difficult °to 
define by any synonymous English word, may be best explained by 
translating the text, “‘The “Maturity of expectation” uses or 
combines the scattered principles to form sugary matter, which 
thereafter abounds in the Apple.’ ” Probably the three periods are 
those known to us as the growing, the ripening, and the sweating 
* “The Cider-Maker’s Handbook.” By J. M. Trowbridge. New York: Orange 
Judd Co. London : Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner & Co., Ltd. 
periods or stages ; the first and second occurring on the tree, and 
the last taking place after the fruit is gathered. 
“ Whenever it is done sweating is of very great importance to 
the quality of the cider. Its most obvious effect is to reduce weight 
by evaporation of part of the water of the juice, which is always 
excessive. By this it produces indirectly an increase in the relative 
proportion of the saccharines. 
“ Apples which are not completely grown contain a large quan¬ 
tity of starch, but no sugar. After the fruit is fully grown the 
starch gradually disappears, and in its place we find Grape sugar. 
This change constitutes the ripening of fruits, and, as well known, 
will take place after they are gathered. In this process we have 
clearly a conversion of starch into sugar by the agency of vegetable 
acids present in the fruit, a change independent of life. 
“ Of course the conversion of tissue into saccharine implies a 
thinning down and weakening of the cells containing the juice, 
whereby their power to resist pressure is very much reduced, and 
the Apple becomes softer or ‘ mellow.’ The loss of water at the 
same time contributes to the same effect. 
“Wherever stored after gathering Apples should not be placed 
in large heaps, nor should they be stored in closed sheds, barns, or 
bins ; but they should be exposed in small piles to the air, wind, 
and sunshine. They must also be kept perfectly clean, sound, and 
free from all foreign odours, especially so from mustiness. If 
allowed to lie on the ground for more time than necessary to 
gather them they will take an earthy flavour, known in wines as 
gout cle terroir , and which will neither leave them nor the cider made 
therefrom. 
“ It is no uncommon thing to see Apples collected in heaps on 
the ground under the trees where they grew, and so left for a week 
or two before being carted to the mill, where again perhaps they 
were stored in large closed bins for another equal period, a very 
sure way indeed to diffuse the earthy and musty flavour with any 
others they may have acquired, and of thoroughly infecting the 
whole stock. 
“We will suppose our Apples to have been harvested and care¬ 
fully sweated, and to be now ready for cider-making. They are 
yet in heaps, each kind by itself, under the trees where they grew. 
In order to haul them to the mill they must be mixed. Now comes 
the critical question : How shall they be mixed ? It will not do 
to throw them together indiscriminately ; some may be worthless 
for cider, and be able to damage, if not to destroy, the entire pro¬ 
duct ; and others, if not quite so bad, may possess qualities, or 
want of qualities, that unfit them for cider, and that the cider will 
be all the better without. What we are aiming at is high quality 
in our product. It certainly cannot be obtained by an indis¬ 
criminate mixture of all our fruit, regardless of quality. It will 
not do, even with Grapes, so much richer in wine-producing 
properties, and surely not with Apples ; the greater deficiencies of 
which, in those respects, demand the more careful judgment, the 
more skilful blending, and, above all, the most absolute rejection of 
all those which can in any degree depreciate quality. 
“ How, then, are we to mix our Apples ? Assuredly they 
should be so mingled that one kind may make up for the 
deficiencies of another, and that the blend, as it is called, shall 
be better than the cider made of either one of the varieties alone ; 
in short, so that each shall contribute something toward, and 
detract nothing from, a complete and generous whole. To do this 
intelligently it is necessary to know something of the constituent 
proportions of the various fruits, in order to bring them together 
harmoniously, and especially to avoid making use of any which are 
nearly or quite worthless or injurious to our purpose. Good wine 
is obtained in that way only, and it is the only possible way to 
obtain good cider. 
“ Whoever thinks that ‘ any Apple is good enough for cider ’ 
had better not engage in the business. He probably would not 
know a good article of cider if by any accident he should ever 
taste one. This book is designed to guide those who intend and 
desire to make the best, and are to be satisfied with nothing less. 
Incidentally it teaches how to make the most of imperfect material, 
but the most perfect product can only be made with the best 
material. Rest assured that this is eminently true in cider 
making. Poor material had better be used in other ways, where 
it can do no harm, and may possibly be made to yield profit ; 
but to use it to deteriorate quality of a product where quality 
is the first and highest consideration is simple foolishness.” 
Alluding to the uses of cider, Mr. Trowbridge says :— 
“ For all purposes for which wine is commonly used, cider, 
properly made, has much to commend it over many wines. The 
principal difference between them lies in the lighter alcoholic 
strength of cider and in the absence therefrom of tartaric acid, 
which is the principal acid of wine. Tartaric acid combines with 
lime to form precipitates, or insoluble particles, whenever they are 
brought into contact. Cider is certainly free from this objection, 
