38 FLOWER-GARDENING. 



will frequently produce semi-double and single flowers the 

 next season. 



RENEWING FLOWER-BEDS. 



As the earth in the flower-beds will require to be fresh dug 

 and replenished with good compost or manure once in two or 

 three years, it may be necessary to take up all the perennial 

 plants at such times. Such roots as are overgrown should be 

 deprived of their surplus offsets, and either planted in a nur- 

 sery-bed, or returned with the parent plants into the regular 

 flower-beds ; they should be inserted a little deeper than 

 before, and the fine fresh earth distributed well about the 

 fibres. 



In removing plants into the beds where they arc intended 

 to blossom, great pains should be taken to preserve some of 

 the earth to their roots. The ground should be previously 

 brought into good condition, so that they may strike freely, 

 and produce their flowers in perfection. The plants should 

 be so arranged that they may all be seen, the most dwarfish 

 being placed in front, and the taller kinds in regular gradations 

 behind ; or the tallest may be planted along the middle of the 

 beds, and the others on each side, according to their varied 

 heights and colors. 



GROUPING FLOWERS ARTISTICALLY. 



There is no part of gardening which requires so much the 

 exercise of taste and fancy, as in setting off a border or bed of 

 intermixed flowers to advantage. In association with other 

 flowers, the different kinds of hardy bulbs may be planted in 

 small clumps of six, seven, or eight inches in diameter, three, 

 four, five, or more roots in each, according to their size and 



