PROPAGATING 65 



necessary is to break off small growths, and lay them 

 upon moist sandy soil, with a piece of stone over their 

 lower end to prevent them being moved, and in a 

 surprisingly short time they will root freely. 



In such cases as Sediim Sieboldii, S. turkestanicum, 

 S. spectabile, S. Telephium, I have found it best to break 

 off in Spring pieces of the root stock, with the new 

 growths attached to them, and these readily strike 

 if kept moist. 



At first, I used to place these cuttings, if we can 

 apply that name to them, in the open garden in the 

 position I had decided the new or enlarged patch 

 should occupy, but from experience I found it much 

 better, except in the cases of the most vigorous plants 

 which by the way one seldom wishes to propagate, 

 to put these offsets or cuttings into pots of suitable 

 soil, and keep them in a place shielded from direct 

 sun and yet in a good light. In one spare part of my 

 garden I have arranged a bed of ash some eight inches 

 deep and into this I plunge to the rims such pots, 

 where they can be carefully tended and looked after 

 to a much greater extent than if scattered about the 

 open garden, where I should have to shade them with 

 pieces of paper when the sun was bright, and so on 

 a most unsatisfactory arrangement, when it can be so 

 easily avoided. 



With such plants as Primulas, like P. denticulata, 



5 



