HARDY PERENNIALS 153 



general rule for the cutting operation can be set 

 down — diflFerent plants require different treat- 

 ment. Some separate readily, tlie gardener 

 finding himself in possession of half a dozen 

 small plants almost as soon as the soil is cleared 

 away, and with comparatively little cutting; 

 others require the use of a knife or a similar 

 instrument in order to effect the division. In 

 the main, propagation by this method is simply 

 the separation of a large clump of roots and 

 crowns into smaller plants. In the case of 

 plants possessing root stubs with buds or 

 "eyes" — as the peony — the division, if de- 

 sired, may be carried to the extreme where only 

 a single bud to a piece of root is retained. It 

 is well in all propagation by division to divide 

 those species in the autumn that bloom before 

 July and those in the spring that bloom later 

 in the year. 



The separation of hardy perennials, how- 

 ever, is more often practised in small yards and 

 gardens' to avoid over-crowding of roots and 

 crowns. An iris, for instance, if allowed to re- 

 main undisturbed in a bed or border for half 

 a dozen years, forms a circular mass of hard 

 root-stock from the center of which no leaf or 

 flower stalks appear. Overcrowding is the 



