How to Raise Plants by the Hundred— By N. s. Green 



Ohio 



IF you have a favorite flower, and want 

 your friends to become acquainted with 

 it, why not raise a big stock of it ? It's easy 

 enough. There are two methods which 

 apply to nearly all the plants in your border: 

 First, by cutting; second, by division. The 

 latter is easy as a rule, and the wonder is that 

 most people never think of breaking up their 

 specimens. It is done in fall or spring. 



Most perennials, when they become well 

 established in good soil, spread in every direc- 

 tion from the parent plant, and gradually 



4, <f'1 .,/£• » 



1 





-'* * %ie 







^.-^W^ ji?* '- 



/ .. 



4 







s 



J^^Er** ■ Jiy* 







■ur Jtei.*^™ 



—Ha 



^P^Ttv 



138. Any side shool on a flowering head of phlox 

 will make a cutting. Use a sharp Knife 



139. To prepare the culling, remove the two 

 lower leaves and buds; cut off the stem just below 

 the point ; pick out the top and trim the leaves 



140. 



MaKe a hole in the sand bed : insert the cutting, 

 and water at once 



form dense clumps of roots, which become so 

 closely crowded that proper further growth is 

 impossible. When much crowded, they make 

 weak growths, with an excess of foliage and 

 but few flower stalks. 



All that is necessary is to break up the mass, 

 dividing it into as many pieces as there are 

 shoots or promises of top growth, if you want to 

 get the greatest number of young plants. In 

 any case, break up the dense mass. If you are 

 not particularly anxious to get as many plants 

 as possible, the old clumps can be chopped 

 up with a spade, but a better and neater way 

 is to separate the "crowns" by hand. 



Some plants, like perennial phlox, can be 

 divided at any time, but the two best seasons 

 are early fall, when roots may be made again 

 before winter, or early spring, just as soon 

 as growth starts. 



It is generally supposed that perennials die 

 down each year and come up again the fol- 

 lowing spring, but this is true in but a few 

 instances. The crowns of most kinds last 

 for only two or three years, then die, and the 

 plants that come up subsequently are off- 

 shoots of the old. Breaking these into single 

 crowns is called dividing. Dig down beside a 

 clump of plants — dahlia or phlox, for instance 

 —and you will see that the larger roots are . 

 massed and entangled, and so densely packed 

 that there is hardly any earth left among 

 them. In order to keep them well supplied 

 with food they must be given more room. 

 With a sharp spade carefully lift the clumps, 

 endeavoring as much as possible to prevent 

 cutting or bruising the crowns. If there are 

 broken or bruised roots, cut them off, as they 

 are likely to decay and so ruin the entire 

 plant. Let the holes be large enough to set 

 the roots in naturally. When placed, press 

 the soil compactly. 



In thinning out a clump of plants, remove 

 enough to leave eighteen to twenty-four inches 

 between those remaining, so they will have 

 plenty of room to expand. This is the quick- 

 est way of obtaining a number of flowering 

 size plants of most perennials. Columbine, 

 for instance, is so easily cross fertilized that 

 in order to continue any variety division is 

 essential. Divide the daisy after blooming, 

 each crown making a plant. Hollyhocks, 

 too, must be divided after blooming, so as to 

 have one or more buds to each piece. The 

 fleshy, tuber-like roots of dahlias are easily 

 separated, one shoot being allowed to each. 

 This can be done, if preferred, at planting 

 time next spring. 



The dwarf varieties of phlox are treated a 

 little differently from others. In July shake 

 soil among the clumps of growing plants, and 

 bv autumn the trailing branches will be 

 found rooted at the joints. Cut them off, and 

 you have as many plants as there are 

 branches. Perennial phlox, Rudbeckia Gol- 

 den Glow and feverfew should be divided 

 every two years; daisy and spirea at three 

 years, and peonies after four years. Remove 

 the suckers of plume poppies every spring 

 and divide occasionally. 

 116 



The perennial phlox is one of the easiest of 

 all plants to grow from cuttings, too. Take 

 off any one of the small side shoots, flowering 

 or not — it makes no difference — and cut out 

 the top, also reducing the leaves; stick the 

 end in the ground and it will grow. This 

 can be done at any time before frost, in the 

 open garden, but when frost is about due 

 put the cutting in a sand bed, under cover, 

 to keep out the frost. 



In the springtime a large lot of young 

 plants of the Michaelmas daisy (aster family) 

 can be raised easily by cuttings, and — if it is 

 desired to have late flowers — take cuttings 

 in late spring or early summer. 



141. To increase by division— one easy and sure way — 

 dig up the plant when the foilage has ceased growing 



142. Separate the crowns by pulling apart. Very large 

 clumps can be chopped to pieces 



143. Trim the broKen and long roots, to induce fresh 

 growth at once. Plant in good garden soil 



