8 THE GARDEN 



Anyone can learn to divide, and thereby increase the various roots that 

 will bear sub-division. A little point we might add just here concerning 

 the transplanting of these newly sub-divided roots is this: Be sure to plant 

 the new little roots very firmly beneath the surface, and deep enough, so 

 that after the freshly-disturbed earth has been watered a number of times, 

 and sunk back again to its usual place, the new roots are not left sticking 

 half out of the ground, with a number of the delicate fibres drying and 

 dying in the air and sun. 



Again, do not be afraid to pack the earth very firmly around the new 

 plants. 



Some perennials will bear dividing two or three times in one season; 

 others will bear having side slips that are not in bloom taken off and plant- 

 ed to form new specimens. This last may be done with sweet william. 

 Again, others, after bloom is over, may have their tall, straggling flower 

 shoots that are going to seed clipped down to the ground; and if plenty of 

 water is given, bloom will appear in a few weeks. Forget-me-nots may be 

 forced to give three or four different crops of flowers if treated in this 

 way; and every one of the clipped-off shoots may be planted in the ground 

 to form new plants for next year. 



CLEANING UP THE PERENNIALS 



Keep a daily eye on the garden, watching especially the clump of per- 

 ennials. Shear off the left-on stems of the peonies. Do not pull them up. 

 If you do it once, and take a look at what you have pulled up, you will not 

 do it again, because you will see that with the dead stalk you have pulled 

 up a flat red dish pink "crown," or "nose," that would in all probability 

 have become a gorgeous bloom. It is an excellent plan to heap a spadefal 

 or two of fertilized earth on top of these clumps. Also, I hope you did not 

 uncover the clumps too soon. Every spring someone loses his peony 

 bloom by this very carelessness. Peony blooms are more easily chilled, and 

 so killed, than any other perennial I know of. 



Most perennials should be heeled-up with a garden fork, cuddling the 

 earth close around the roots and heaping it up for some inches higher. It 

 will be noticed that many of the plants are straggly or very loose in the 

 ground. The frost has done this. All that can be done, but this is very 

 Important, is to make them firm by scraping the earth up closely around 

 them and patting it in tightly. Such are the sweet Williams, the pinks, the 

 Canterbury bells, the snapdragon, and a few others. 



I started a whole new supply of sweet william last spring, transplant- 

 ing them in August and September. This spring they are fine, fat plants, 

 having wintered well, but I have had to go over every one of them, push 

 them back into the ground, and scrape the earth close around their roots. 



If your iris clumps are of good age, say four or five years, you will 

 probably find that they, too, need a few spadefuls of earth piled over them 

 early in April. 



April is too early to think of preparing any new garden beds or making 

 any change in the position of plants. There is no real, permanent warmth 

 in the ground sufficient to provide heat to the roots. And heat to the roots 

 is most essential when they are moved from one spot to another in the early 

 spring. 



Nothing can be done to the bulb beds save keep an eye on their general 

 appearance, for the purpose of removing withered blooms or blighted 

 leaves. Perhaps here and there a bulb will have to be removed where it 

 has proved a failure, or often it is possible to replace a blighted bulb by 

 carefully lifting one from a spot where its absence will not be noticed so 

 much, and placed in the vacant spot. Bulbs can be lifted from one spot to 

 another without injury, even while they are in bloom, although this cannot 



