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How to Make a Flower Garden 



III. Home Propagation of Shrubbery 



By Frank H. Sweet 



Quite a number of years ago my father bought from an agent 

 a Hydrangea paniciilata grandifJora, one of the finest of flowering shrubs. 

 We did not know very much about shrubs at that time, but we Hked them 

 all, and were fond of experimenting. The second year, my father discovered 

 that the hydrangea was much improved by severe 

 pruning. It grew better, and the blossoms were 

 much larger. Then he found out that if the 

 cuttings were inserted in the ground any time 

 before the leaves started in June they would root 

 easily. He raised a large number of plants in 

 this way. All of them blossomed the same season 

 the cuttings were put in, and the second year they 

 were large enough to transplant. They were set 

 in a hedge, five or six feet apart, in front of the 

 house. The land was rich and mellow, and they 

 grew rapidly. At present the hedge is eight or 

 ten feet high and presents a grand spectacle during 

 August and September. From the road, especially 

 in the evening, it looks like a big bank of snow. 

 One year my father put in nearly two thousand cuttings, and very few of 

 them failed to root. He has given away hundreds of plants to his neighbours, 

 has sold several hundred dollars' worth, and has a thousand or more fine 

 plants on his place. And yet he has not followed it as a business, has 

 not advertised, and has done comparatively little work at it — a few hours 

 in the spring and fall, putting in cuttings and transplanting as the shrubs 

 became crowded. 



A neighbour has an acre or two of choice shrubs which he raised almost 

 entirely from cuttings and divisions of plants that have been picked up here 

 and there. He is a mechanic, and has only an occasional half-hour to spare 

 for this work, and yet during the few years that he has owned this lot he 

 has changed the barren hillside to a veritable garden of beauty. And I 

 doubt if, outside of his work, it has cost him more than ten dollars. 



Many of the cottage owners at Narragansett Pier — two miles away — 



Hydrangea— one of the most popular 

 shrubs, and easily propagated at 

 home 



