580 Cultivation of Plants. 



up a multitude of suckers, or, like the Arabis albida, they 

 produce running stems, or stolons. Plants with rhizomatous 

 or bulbous roots increase by division in the former case, and 

 offsets in the latter. But we shall enter more fully into this 

 subject when speaking of the culture of herbaceous plants. 



Excluding many garden varieties, which cannot be perpetu- 

 ated by sexual propagation, Oaks, Maples, Ash, Horse-Chestnut, 

 Sweet Chestnut, Whitethorn, Larch, Spruce, and other Conifers, 

 besides a host of other things, including free-seeding herba- 

 ceous plants, are raised from seed. 



Plants, as well as animals, are subject to a great variety of 

 accidents and diseases, the ravages of parasites, of both the vege- 

 table and animal kingdoms, and herbivorous animals ; and in an 

 artificial state more perhaps than when growing wild. The ill- 

 effects of rapid and frequent fluctuations of temperature, unusu- 

 ally severe winters, late frosts, excess of rain or drought, storms 

 and high winds, can only be guarded against to a certain extent. 

 By choosing hardy species or protecting tender ones, efficient 

 drainage, watering, and providing the supports required by 

 different plants in good time, a great deal of the mischief likely 

 to ensue from these causes may be avoided. Birds may enjoy 

 perfect immunity in the ornamental garden ; for here, whilst 

 doing a great deal of good by clearing off destructive insects, 

 they effect little harm, and afford, moreover, a great deal of 

 pleasure to most people. The greatest scourges of the animal 

 kingdom belonging to the larger class are rabbits and hares, 

 rats and mice. The latter are very mischievous among seeds, 

 and in winter they will destroy rare herbaceous plants by 

 nibbling them away, so there is nothing for it but to trap them. 

 Moles occasionally, but not often, get into the flower garden, 

 whence they must be banished with all speed. Babbits and 

 hares are easily excluded by the use of wire netting made for 

 this purpose. Wasps, hornets, and ants are all undesirable, 

 more on account of their painful stings than anything else. 

 Ants may be destroyed by pouring boiling water into their nests, 

 or where this is impracticable from the vicinity of plants, 

 inverted dishes smeared with honey will trap them. Wasps 

 and hornets are usually suffocated in their nests at night by 

 blowing the fumes of rags dipped in brimstone into their holes. 

 But it is when we come to such pests as snails, slugs, cater- 

 pillars, grubs and lice, or green fly, that we meet with our worst 

 enemies. The only effectual way of getting rid of snails, slugs, 



