94 VILLA GARDENING part i 



may sometimes be necessary to have a pail of -water ; dip the ball 

 of earth iu the water, to dislodge some of the soil and show where 

 the division may be effected with the least injury to the plants. 

 Either in the spring or the autumn plants may be divided, and 

 indeed it is not advisable to lay down any particularly narrow 

 line, for if the plants are not actually in blossom they can be 

 divided any time in the early summer with perfect success. If it 

 is desirable to divide any plant into small pieces for the purpose 

 of increasing stock, the offsets should be treated as cuttings, and 

 planted for a season in the reserve garden. 



Propagation hy Seeds. — ]\Iany of the best hardy perennials may 

 be raised from seeds, and there is a great and interesting field for 

 thought and study open to the man or woman of enthusiastic 

 temperament in the raising of plants from seeds, especially where 

 time can be given to the fertilising and crossing of various fiimilies. 

 Man has just the same influence over the destiny of the plants he 

 cultivates as he has over the animals he feeds, provided he 

 possesses the necessary time and patience to think and work the 

 matter out, and can bear disappointment without swerving from 

 what he has set himself to do. Xearly all seeds germinate best 

 when new, and a larger proportion of seeds will produce j^lants if 

 they are sown as soon as ripe than if kept till spring, which is the 

 orthodox time for seed sowing. Assuming that seeds wiiich ripen 

 in July and August, or even up to the middle of September, were 

 sown as soon as they ripen, a season would be gained over putting 

 them into bags or packets till spring. Seeds of perennials sown in 

 August will genninate and be strong enough to stand the winter, 

 and in the spring will be little plants ready to begin work. If 

 the weather is hot and dry at that season, which it sometimes is, 

 the seed beds must have a good preparation, something after the 

 manner I described for cuttings, and be watered and stirred about 

 with the steel fork till the earth is thoroughly moistened for some 

 distance into the ground ; then if the seeds are carefully sown 

 and covered with some moderately-dry light soil, they will grow 

 quickly, and with the greatest certainty, if shaded with a mat 

 or something during the hottest part of the day, but uncovered at 

 night. The seeds may either be sown in drills or broadcast. 

 Drills are, I think, best, because they give greater facilities for 

 stirring the surface among the little growing plants, which is an 

 important matter. As regards the depth to cover different kinds 

 of seeds, mistakes are sometimes made in burying too deeply, but 

 not often, I think, when the beds have been prepared in the way I 

 have suggested, as a vigorous new seed wdll force its way through 

 a healthy medium even if buried to a greater depth than is re- 



