122 FAMILIAR GAUVEN FLOWERS. 



indiscriminate digging, the evils of which course have 

 frequently been referred to in these pages. 



The best soil for hepaticas is a deep loam. They will 

 thrive in clay, and one condition of success is good drainage. 

 The double varieties are multiplied by dividing the roots, 

 but the amateur who has had but little experience in pri_)- 

 pagating and nursing' plants may be advised to leave 

 hepaticas alone, for they are amongst the cheapest of hardy 

 plants, and it is likely to prove in the end cheaper to buy 

 than to produce them. However, we must describe the 

 process. The strongest clumps are to be lifted immediately 

 after flowering and carefully divided into separate crowns, 

 each division to have as many roots as can be secured to it. 

 These are to be at once jilanted in fresh soil and carefully 

 closed in, and lightly covered with some very tine earth. 

 If the soil is well drained, they will in the course of the 

 season become established. Care must be taken that they 

 do not suffer through drouarht or lonor-continued sunshine 

 before they have taken hold of their new ijosition. They 

 are thrifty things, but they will certainly perish if sorely 

 distressed, and it is sim])ly because they are not sufficiently 

 looked after by novices that they so often fail, even though 

 properly handled in the first instance. When growing 

 wild the hepatica is a wood-side plant, and this fact should 

 teach us that when punished by division of the root, the 

 plant should not be further punished by exposure to 

 drought and long-continued sunshine. Trade pro]iagators 

 pot the little pieces and nurse them in frames. This 

 insures to them a cool moist atmosphere favo\n-able to 

 renewal of growth. It is better, however, to iilant 

 them out and give them a little special attention Cor 

 a time. 



