784 
TO PRESERVE DAHLIA ROOTS. 
In the culture of the Hoya, tlie most important consideration is, 
the choice of a soil suitable to its nature and habits, the best I have 
tried, and in which it grows particularly well, is a mixture of vege¬ 
table mould and strong turfy loam, about equal quantities, it is not 
necessary the compost should be sifted; if broken fine, and the larg¬ 
er lumps and stones taken out, it will answer much better, as the 
plants will root more freely and thrive considerably better; being 
somewhat succulent, and making but few roots, it must he sparingly 
watered and but seldom repotted, more particularly if grown in the 
green-house, where it makes little progress and flowers indifferently. 
In order to cause it to produce flowers in the greatest perfection, 
the heat of the stove is indispensable. It is propagated by cuttings 
taken from the plants in May or June, and planted in small pots fil¬ 
led with white sand, and plunged in a frame where there is a gentle 
bottom heat, where they form roots in a few weeks. It may also he 
propagated by leaves treated in the same manner as cuttings; hut as 
they seldom make any progress except that of rooting, until the se¬ 
cond year, it is hut little practised. 
Before I conclude, it may he as well to mention, that the flower 
stalk and rachis are permanent, and the latter becomes lengthened, 
and continues to produce the umbel in the flowering season from its 
extremity; this circumstance makes the careful cultivator abstain 
from gathering the blossoms, since each separated from the plant 
causes the sacrifice of an umbel, which would otherwise last as long 
as the plant itself. Wm. P. Ayres. 
ARTICLE VIII. 
TO PRESERVE DAHLIA ROOTS. 
Having seen in the August number of your excellent Magazine, 
an enquiry by Alpha, for the best method of keeping Dahlia Roots 
through the winter, I venture to propose to him the following, as a 
plan which I have employed during five seasons, without losing a root. 
I choose a fine dry day to take up the roots, and expose them for 
a few hours to the sun, to dry the mould on them. I then clear 
away all the dirt I possibly can, wiping each root with a cloth, if ne¬ 
cessary. When quite clean , I put them into a boarded closet on 
shelves, there being but a very thin partition between this closet and 
a kitchen. In a few days, I scatter thinly all over them, some very 
dry sand; they are then left, and only examined from time to time, 
to see that they do not get mouldy, which, by the bye, I never found 
happen. Nil Desperandum. 
