SPRING. 69 



whole plant be lifted up and divided, fresh soil should be 

 given to any portion of it that may be replaced in the 

 original situation. Double daisies become single after a 

 time if not thus divided, and new pasture-ground provided 

 for the roots ; so do double violets ; while mimulas, cam- 

 panulas, and some others, provide one yearly with young 

 plants to give away, or to make use of in filling up blanks 

 in the borders. 



Every one who has had any experience in the common 

 routine of garden work must have observed how frequently 

 flowers that were once plentiful gradually disappear. Some- 

 times the gardener is blamed, sometimes it is supposed we 

 have given away too many; but I suspect it frequently 

 arises from neglect, if not contempt of common flowers. 

 How often are large clumps of such dug up when they 

 grow too large for the place they are in, and thrown away, 

 because there are plenty more, or they are just common 

 things, or because we cannot be troubled at the time to 

 replant a portion of the root with a little fresh earth ; and 

 so by degrees common things disappear from the borders, 

 and many sweet as well as pretty flowers are thus lost, just 

 for want of a little consideration of " common things, and 

 plenty of them." Is it only in our gardens we act thus 1 

 Are our common mercies never despised, our every-day 

 opportunities of kind words and deeds never neglected, 

 because they are common, and we fancy we have so many 

 that we may neglect them occasionally, and no harm done? 



In the Cottage Gardener for February 1850, are some 

 remarks by Mr Beatoun on this subject of replanting our 



