TO PRESERVE DAHLIA ROOTS.Theleast frost destroys these roots. In warm and damp cellars they rot. Very many persons have no cellars at all (a very frequent destitution at the West); others are so small and moist, as to be unfit (our own, for instance); and the extreme variations of temperature during the day and night make sitting-rooms and their closets very unsafe places for them. The labor of packing them in sand is not great to those who have it ready or men to procure it; but to ladies, and especially to many in towns and cities who are enthusiastic cultivators of flowers, but grievously vexed with poverty of pocket, this plan is inconvenient.Why may not dahlias be kept in the soil? We think there is not the least doubt that they can be protected fromfrostandheat. Every one knows that in spading up in the spring the dahlia beds of the previous year, large sections of the tubers, which had broken off when the mainroots were removed, are found in a fresh and sound condition.Let a pit be dug say two feet deep, the roots carefully disposed in it, covered with soil, and the whole protected by coarse litter, straw, etc. We do not advise any to adventure their whole stock in this manner; but we design to select the inferior sorts from our stock and treat them thus; and if successful, we shall, another year, try our whole stock.
Theleast frost destroys these roots. In warm and damp cellars they rot. Very many persons have no cellars at all (a very frequent destitution at the West); others are so small and moist, as to be unfit (our own, for instance); and the extreme variations of temperature during the day and night make sitting-rooms and their closets very unsafe places for them. The labor of packing them in sand is not great to those who have it ready or men to procure it; but to ladies, and especially to many in towns and cities who are enthusiastic cultivators of flowers, but grievously vexed with poverty of pocket, this plan is inconvenient.
Why may not dahlias be kept in the soil? We think there is not the least doubt that they can be protected fromfrostandheat. Every one knows that in spading up in the spring the dahlia beds of the previous year, large sections of the tubers, which had broken off when the mainroots were removed, are found in a fresh and sound condition.
Let a pit be dug say two feet deep, the roots carefully disposed in it, covered with soil, and the whole protected by coarse litter, straw, etc. We do not advise any to adventure their whole stock in this manner; but we design to select the inferior sorts from our stock and treat them thus; and if successful, we shall, another year, try our whole stock.