The least 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 from _frost_ and _heat_. 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 main roots 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.