PROPAGATION. 229 



have only to be taken up every season wlien tlie leaves decay, 

 and the offsets, which form perfect and complete plants in all 

 but size, have only to be cleaned and separated ; the larger 

 ones being sorted for replanting or sale, and the smaller ones 

 being kept separate, to be grown into size another year. 



Some herbaceous plants spread so rapidly, and the roots 

 meet together so closely, that the patch may be dug up and 

 chopped to pieces with the spade; that is to say, a large 

 patch may be chopped across to make two, or crossed again 

 to make four, or each of these divided to make eight or 

 sixteen, according to the size they are at first, and the size 

 they are required. However the roots may be injured by 

 such rough usage, there is sure to be enough sound to grow 

 again ; and therefore, clumsy as the mode may seem, it 

 is very commonly done with rapidly-spreading herbaceous 

 plants. Those roots or tubers of which the plants actually 

 die down every season, such as anemones, pseonies, rhubarb, 

 and the like, may generally be separated into the smallest 

 si^es. They are full of eyes or crowns, which may be easily 

 seen, and the smallest eye forms a plant ; but unless it be to 

 propagate a new variety as fast as possible, they are generally 

 only separated into pieces of sufficient size to form a good 

 plant the first year. There are other roots or tubers, which 

 do not show the least appearance of an eye or growing place 

 until the spring actually sets them growing. These are 

 capable of being propagated by parting the roots or tubers, 

 but the work cannot be done with any certainty until the 

 eyes shoot out into growth. The dahlia is of this description ; 

 but the eyes may be excited earlier by throwing the tubers 

 into a hot-bed, without even potting. When the eyes start, 

 the tuber may be cut into any number of pieces, so that 

 there be an eye to each ; and each piece may be potted and 

 grown in heat until the planting-out time. Corms, as the 

 solid bulbs of the cyclamen and similarly habited plants are 

 called, do not throw offsets like tuhps and hyacinths, but are 

 propagated by cutting the bulbs into pieces, which must have 

 part of the hving crown to each to grow from ; but it is far 

 more profitable to grow these from seed, which being saved 

 from the plant, and not in company with any other plants of 

 the same family, may be pretty well depended on. JS'ever- 

 theless, if it must be the same individual propagated, the 

 bulb may be allowed to start a little, to show how much of it 



