480 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
AI a 1 : c 11 2". 
are more cautious, and will not take to a tiling, however 
new, until it becomes fashionable. The large plank of 
Deodar was lionized. Specimen plants of the Cedar of 
Lebanon, which were planted at Highclere in 1773, were 
sent by the Secretary of the Society, J. R. Gowen, Esq. 
A line sample of the Douglas fir ( Abies Douglasii), from 
Oregon. This wood is the best of all the Spruce Eir 
tribe, and is hardly second to that of the Deodar itself. 
A block of Pinus insignis showed that it is of no use, or 
likely to be here, except as a nurse plant, to keep up 
better trees of a slower growth. When it comes to be 
as plentiful and cheap as the common Spruce it will 
make a far better nurse, and it has begun already to 
bear cones in this country. This wood was sent by T. 
May Harding, Esq., of Upcott, near Barnstable. This 
Society would be pleased to receive more kinds of woods, 
specimens of British growth, as the Fellow’s have taken 
such interest in the question of profitable planting; and 
after a season such specimens could be returned. The 
fact is, this agitation about the mismanagement of the 
national forests has opened the eyes of a new generation 
of planters, and the end will be, that every new tree, and 
every untried timber of home growth, will be scanned 
and criticised till the pounds, shillings, and pence value 
of each is as well understood as the planting of the 
seedlings. Wehad, also, good specimens of the American 
Larch, or Hackmatack-tree, which does no good here. 
Also of the Corsican Pine ( Pinus Laricio); but a spe¬ 
cimen before us of the great Alerce wood of the old 
Spaniards, if not of the Moors, is, probably, the very 
best wood among all the Conifers. No one could make 
out what tree produced the Alerce for ages, or where it 
grew. The Moors introduced it, and, probably, had 
forests of it in Spain, although the latter is doubtful, 
from no mention being of it in a book written by a 
Moor in the twelfth century. This old Moor w T as no 
fool of a gardener, for he treats of all the trees and 
shrubs in Spain, and also how to transplant large trees 
as well as Harry Moor at this present day, but he makes 
no mention of Alerce-trees. Surely, such a good forester, 
however, would know the tree and wood most prized by 
his countrymen, and of which they roofed their temples, 
which we know to have resisted all weathers, during 
nine centuries, without a bit of paint. It was only 
nearly twenty years ago that we found out, through 
this Society, what the Alerce really is. Mr. Drummond, 
our Consul at Tangier, traced out the origin of Alerce 
wood to be a tree which is very common in Barbary 
and the Atlas range. It is of the Arbor Vitffi kind, and 
is now called Callitris quadrivalvis, alias Thuja arti- 
culata, or the Sandarack of Mount Atlas. He sent 
some of them to the Society, and we had it for examina¬ 
tion and comparison to-day. Unfortunately, it will not 
do for foresting in this country, being too tender for 
the climate; yet, if we may put faith ill the Spaniards, 
who went over and conquered Peru and the countries to 
the south of it, we have just as good Alerce wood as 
that of Barbary in the Alerce of Chili, either Libocedrus 
tetragona and Libocedrus Ghilensis, or both, and both 
are as hardy as the Common Larch, and grow to a much 
larger timber. Then it follows, like A. B.C., that the 
Chillian Alerce is a powerful rival to the Indian Deodar 
and to the Oregon Fir of Douglas, if not superior to 
both, and that both are superior to the Larch, particu¬ 
larly the Douglas Fir, which will not warp or shrink 
under the most severe trials. At all events, that is 
about the marrow of the lecture, as far as my memory 
carries me, for the room was so full that I could not 
use my pencil where I sat. D. Beaton. 
KEEPING, PROPAGATING, AND BEDDING 
DAHLTAS. 
1 A number of complaints have reached me this spring, 
' that the Dahlias, though secured' from frost, have kept 
| very badly. It is too late to resort to preventive mea- 
! sures now for this season, and yet it may be a gratifica- 
I tion for those who have been disappointed to know 
some of the causes of failure, that they may be guarded 
against in future years. One complains, that after se¬ 
curing them as carefully as Potatoes in a place not 
over dry, that many of the roots are completely decom¬ 
posed ; another finds that the roots have no substance, 
but are regularly mummy-dried ; and a third finds, that 
though the bulk of the tubers are seemingly sound 
enough, the collar of the plant is so far gone that no 
coaxings of heat or moisture can induce a bud to break; 
while a fourth says, that though all his plants seem 
sound, no young shoots seem inclined to come. The 
first and second of these evils are generally attributable 
to unsuitable treatment of the tubers before storing; 
the third is generally the result of frost getting at the 
collar of the plant before it is taken out of the ground ; 
and the fourth, when it does occur, is often due to a 
certain mode of propagating, which may be guarded 
against now, and which, though detrimental to some 
sorts, exerts no prejudicial influence on others, but 
which it is well to guard against in all. 
The three first causes of failure may be guarded 
against by a very simple process, namely, going round 
the Dahlias as soon as frost is anticipated, and piling 
old tan, litter, or even the earth of the bed, which I 
generally use, round the stems of the plants, in little 
mounds, from six to twelve inches in height. This 
secures the collar of the plant from being injured by 
frost. After this, I prefer that the plants should stand 
in the ground until the tops are quite blackened by 
frost. The stems are then cut off about fifteen inches 
from the ground, and if more frost is at all apprehended, 
the top of the plant is laid over the roots, the part of the 
stem left being bent so as to prevent water entering 
and lodging there. If the plants are extra luxuriant, 
! and the frost long in coming, previously to placing the 
mounds over the tubers a spade is inserted round the 
j plant so as to cut many of the fibres, and thus check 
the rampant luxuriance. I prefer letting the tops stand 
until destroyed by frost to cutting them when at 
all green, because the cold nights, and the slight frosts 
1 that generally precede a cutting-down one, will have 
gradually checked luxuriance, and thrown more of a 
ripening influence into the tubers. In either of these 
cases, protected as I have mentioned, I would wish the 
roots to receive a farther ripening by their remaining in 
the ground eight days or a fortnight after being cut 
down. If the frost, however, came too severe for the 
roots to remain in the ground with safety, and any 
covering with litter was deemed unadvisable, I would 
give the roots a similar advantage by lifting them with 
as many fibres as possible, and with what earth would 
adhere to them, and allow them thus to remain in a 
shed, the floor of a house, &c., where they w’ould not 
dry too quickly, and thus the roots would be more 
gradually and thoroughly matured, and nothing of the 
, sudden change experienced as would be realised by 
cutting down the green stems and storing the roots 
away at once. Whenever the roots are brought 
i in-doors they should first be turned topsy-turvy, that 
I every particle of moisture in the old stems left may be 
turned out. When thus left for a week or a fortnight, 
the old stems may be cut close, a part of tlie earth 
removed from the roots, and the tubers placed in any 
position, neither wet nor dry, and where frost will be 
thoroughly excluded. Small copper wire is about the 
' 
