200 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FARM 



They never let go. Slow as is this method of propagation, it 

 still means a steady annual increase and results in mutual 

 crowding. Each offset tends to form a clump, and each 

 clump a thicket. Some plants like cockle-mint and pearl 

 achille, increase in this way so quickly that, for best results 

 in flower production, they need to be dug up, divided and 

 replanted every second year. Most herbaceous perennials 

 need this treatment every few years. Both the number and 

 the kind of offsets produced give a hint of the future behavior 

 of the plants. If there be only a few little offsets close against 

 the base of the old stem, as in the tall lobelias (Lobelia cardi- 

 nalis and L . syphilitica) one knows the plants will spread slowly 

 and stay where placed; but if the underground shoots are 

 both very long and numerous, as in the panicled white aster, 

 one knows the plant is likely to spread. He who digs them 

 should dig observantly, learning thereby how to plant them 

 again in a new place. 



Excellent , for planting are these offsets of herbaceous 

 perennials. Nature carefully prepares them and fully equips 

 them for rapid and complete development. There are no 

 years of long waiting for results. They will give their full 

 effect the first season. So, while we are waiting for the trees 

 to attain their dignity and for the shrubs to grow to blooming 

 size, we plant herbaceous perennials. Native wild perennials 

 are best suited to informal planting. In using them about 

 our grounds, there are just a few things that need always to be 

 remembered: 



1. To plant the best of them in masses, many of a kind 

 together, for too great variety is wearisome. 



2. To plant the tallest growing forms at the back and the 

 lowest at the front, so that the lowest foliage masses will 

 drop gently down to the greensward. 



3 . To plant each kind where its requirements of light and 

 moisture will be met. 



