218 PLANNING AND PLANTING 



from cuttings, and while the barberry or berberis 

 thunbergii may also be grown this way, these 

 plants are usually produced from seed. 



Others of our plants, increased by root cuttings, 

 are the horse radish, peonies, oriental poppy, and 

 frequently this method is used in propagating the 

 hardy phlox and other plants. 



Peonies, after having been planted for eight 

 years, should be taken up and divided with a heavy 

 knife or a hatchet, and each 3 to 5 eye division 

 replanted as a separate plant. 



The oriental poppy, like the horseradish, should 

 be taken up and the roots cut into sections. Each 

 of the pieces then makes a new plant. 



A method of very rapidly increasing phlox is 

 to take up plants in the fall, wash off the soil, and 

 cut the fine hair-like roots into minute pieces 

 These are strewn on the soil of the cold frame, 

 covered with an inch or so of sand and a winter 

 mulch of leaves or straw, and in the spring the 

 tiny plants are pricked out and potted up for 

 growing into saleable or useable plants. 



The various methods of nature, and the opera- 

 tions used in the creation of plant life are a reve- 

 lation to the seeker after knowledge in this sphere. 



Take the method of producing plants from leaf 

 cuttings, for instance, as in the case of begonia 

 propagation. The fleshy stalks of the leaf are 

 scored across with a sharp knife and the leaf 



