34 SPRING FLOWERS. 



it a strong stake to support its weight, which soon 

 succumbs under gusts of wind. Plant them in 

 open and airy places. When the stems become 

 black, take them up, — seperate the roots, and 

 plunge them into a box of ashes, barley chaff, or 

 sand, to protect them through the winter. Plant 

 them out in May. 



Dahlias grow from cuttings, which require care 

 and a hot-bed to do well, but they multiply them- 

 selves very sufficiently without that trouble. 



It is a great perfection to see every tall plant in a 

 flower-garden well staked, and trimmed from dead, 

 straggling shoots. Let no branches trail upon the 

 border, but, as in the case of Chrysanthemums, cut 

 away the lowest branches or shoots, that each plant 

 may stand erect and neat in its order, without in- 

 termeddling in its neighbor's concerns. There will 

 be plenty of employment all through the summer in 

 watching the growth of your plants, in cutting away 

 decayed stems, and trimming off dead leaves. Let 

 nothing remain in the flower's way after the bright- 

 ness of its bloom has past by ; cut off the drooping 

 flovver before it runs to seed, which only tends to 

 weaken the other flowers, and leave only the finest 

 flower to produce seed on each plant. 



Perennials grow remarkably fine always in new- 

 ly turned-up ground, but they gradually degenerate, 

 if they are allowed to remain above two years with- 

 out replacing the substance they have exhausted in- 

 the soil. Add every year to that substance, by lib- 

 eral supplies from the compost heap. 



Be careful to multiply your supply of jasmines, 

 honeysuckles, &c., by cuttings in their due season. 



I subjoin a list of the hardier sorts of fibrous- 

 rooted Perennials, eligible to adorn a garden, from 



