ORNAMENTAL BIENNIALS AND PERENNIALS. 503 



though some of ihcin live three or four years. Biennials should he sown in 

 March or April, thinned out in May, and transplanted in September^to the 

 place where they are to flower the ensuin» year. A little earth should be 

 taken up with the roots, Avhen thei^ are transplanted, and they should be well 

 watered, and shaded for a day or two, till they are thoi-oughly established. 

 Those kinds which require a peculiar soil, should have pits prepared for them 

 about a week before they are transplanted, that the earth may have time to 

 settle." (Ladies' Companion to the Flower- Garden, 4th ed., p. 32.) Hollyhocks 

 sliould have the pits prepared for them at least a foot square and deep, and 

 they should be filled with a rich soil composed of loam and the remains of an 

 old hotbed. It would be useless to give lists of biennials, as the genera and 

 species are so few ; and the names of the varieties are so innumerable, and 

 so continually changing. As an example of this, in one nursery there are 

 nearly eighty various kinds of snapdragon ; and the stocks and hollyhocks 

 are of every shade in their respective colours, from the darkest to the brightest 

 tints. The best way is, when thei-e is time to do so, to visit the nui'series 

 when the plants are in flower, and to procure young plants of the kinds 

 preferred. 



5o9. Perennials, or herhacectis plants, as they are called by gardeners, are 

 those permanent plants which are not woody, but which generally die down 

 to the ground every year, and spring up again the year following. I'here are 

 some, however, which are called evergreen perennials, which never die down 

 to the ground, such as pinks, carnations, several kinds of saxifrage, &:c. 

 Pei'ennials have the great advantage over annuals and biennials, that they do 

 not require renewal from seed, but are propagated by division of the root or 

 cuttings of the stem. The greater part of the plants which ornament the 

 borders of gardens are pei-ennials, inchiding under this term bulbs and tubers.- 

 The fibrous-rooted perennials should be taken up and divided when they are 

 growing too large ; and even when division on this account is not necessary, 

 most of the kinds are benefited by taking up and replanting in fresh situa- 

 tions occasionally, on the principle of the rotation of crops. All plants 

 require certain salts, and other mineral substances which they find in the 

 ground ; and when they have taken up all within their reach, which they 

 will do in the course of a few years, the ground in which they grow becomes 

 unfit for them. Nature has provided a remedy for this by elongating the 

 roots of all perennial plants, whether ligneous or herbaceous, every year ; 

 and this is sufficient to prevent trees and shrubs in permanent plantations 

 from being injured ; but from the constant digging, &c., in a garden, peren- 

 nial herbaceous plants are very seldom permitted to extend their roots to a 

 sufficient distance to find suitable soil ; and they are, therefore, benefited by 

 taking up and replanting, or laying down decayed leaves or fresh soil over 

 their roots. The season for taking up and replanting perennial plants should 

 be either in autumn, after they have done growing, or in spring, before they 

 besin to erow : and if the soil about the roots looks black and saturated with 

 moisture, or, as gardeners express it, " sour," the roots should be washed 

 quite clean before replanting. Where the roots are to be divided, it may be 

 done, if they are large, with the spade, or, if they are small, with a knife : 

 and, at all events, they should be cut smooth, and trimmed (that is, all the 

 bruised parts removed) with a sharp knife, before replanting. — (See Ladies' 

 Companion to the Flower-Garden, fifth edit., p. 218.) 



