Heavy clay soils may be made lighter by the generous use of furnace ashes or 
cinders mixed with the soil of the garden, or just in the hills. Lime also tends to loosen 
the soil but should not be used oftener than every four or five years and never in con- 
nection with barnyard manures. A cover crop of rye also aids in the loosening or light- 
ening of the soil. Stirring the soil frequently to a depth of five or six inches helps to 
maintain the soil in proper condition. It must be remembered that the tender roots of 
the dahlia will not reach out as readily in search of food, in hard ground, as they will in 
looser soil. The dahlia is a very heavy ‘feeder and needs a large, efficient, root system. 
Also, air and water penetrate more easily into loose soil to aid in the chemical trans- 
formation of soil elements into plant food. 
Spade the garden two or three weeks before planting time. Leave the surface rough 
until actual setting of the roots or plants. Never try to ‘fit’ the soil when it is so wet 
that it sticks to the tools. Planting should not be started until the soil has started to warm 
up in the spring, which in the latitude of northern Ohio is about May I5th to May 20th. 
Planting may be continued until June [5th or later. 
We suggest planting in furrows or trenches about five inches deep, running the 
length of the row. Place the root flat in the bottom of the trench and cover with two or 
three inches of soil. Fill in the rest of the trench as the plant grows. Rows should be at 
least three, or preferably, four feet apart. Plants in the row should be thirty-six inches 
apart when planting large sorts. (Small type dahlias sixteen to twenty-four inches apart.) 
Stakes to support the plants later may be driven at planting time five or six inches from 
the eye or sprout. Further instructions for the care and planting of "GREEN PLANTS" 
are enclosed with each shipment of our plants. 
Many failures with "GREEN PLANTS" are due to improper cultural methods at the 
start of the growing season. Normal growth should be the aim. It is not uncommon for 
the gardener to employ all methods within his knowledge to get his plants off to a fast 
start. A fast growth is also a soft growth which is easily injured by the heat and dry 
weather of mid-summer. Such injuries result in a check to the plant and a resultant 
hardening of the plant tissues. When the tissues become hard, or woody, they lose their 
properties to expand, or grow. Thereafter, no greater amounts of plant food can pass up 
through the stalk than was the case when the hardening took place. Growth practically 
ceases. When this has occurred, first class results can be obtained only by cutting the 
plant back to the ground and starting all over. In many cases this will be too late to 
obtain blooms. 
Hardening may also be caused by a number of other factors. In some cases the 
condition may have been induced by planting too early, when the soil is too cold for 
normal growth. Some other factors which may cause this condition are: setting plants in 
the garden which have not been properly "hardened off" in cold frames, allowing the 
plants to dry out, excessive water, lack of cultivation, root injuries due to insects or 
fertilizers, as well as a number of others not so common. When growth has been normal 
the plant can cope with conditions which would cause a soft plant to suffer a check. 
Cultivate once or twice each week to a depth of five or six inches in the early part 
of the season. Right next to the plant cultivation should not be as deep or some of the 
roots are likely to be cut off or injured. When the plants are in bloom and the spaces 
between the plants are pretty well filled with foliage no further cultivation will be 
necessary. 
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