All cut surfaces should be treated with a mixture of lime and sulphur (equal parts) and be left for a few hours to callus over, when the division may be either planted or, if preferred, potted into comparatively large pots. It is obviously easier to plant, but in pots the growth can he watched and controlled more easily.

The cheap wooden handled knives sold as cobblers’ knives are particularly suitable for the job as they have a straight cutting edge with an angled point, as well as being strong and so capable of standing up to the strain of dividing tough material.

There is one other method of increasing dahlia stock worth mentioning, the primary one in fact, though mentioned last because of its limited value, and that is by seed. This is a comparatively simple matter as the dahlia is no harder to raise from seed than any half hardy annual and it will flower the same year.

In some cases the crown extends well up into the stem, and shoots are produced up to several inches away from the junction with the tuber. Such tubers must be very carefully treated, cutting right through the stem so that the shoots are not damaged-they will make equally good plants as their more handsome brethren.

Water the pots or boxes by immersion after sowing. Cover the seed receptacles with a sheet of paper and glass and place in a warm corner of the greenhouse or frame to germinate. Germination should take place in about ten to twenty-one days, depending on the amount of heat provided, and the seedlings should be ready to be pricked out a week later.

This crown is easily broken away from the tuber if carelessly divided, and it would be useless to plant any tuber which has no crown, as this would produce roots only without any top growth. In a few varieties, particularly cactus varieties with clusters of comparatively thin individual tubers, the crown is very small and very closely knit to the tubers. These types are very easily divided, in fact it is possible to pull them to pieces and each piece will make a good plant. Unfortunately this is not true of the majority of varieties, some decorative varieties producing almost ball like tubers of comparatively small size, merging imperceptibly in crown and then into stem. In this case it is inadvisable to divide into more than two.