ON LAYING OUT. 



31 



stem only, and give it a strong stake to support its weight, which 

 soon succumbs under gusts of wind. Plant them in open and 

 airy places. When the stems become black, take them up, sepa- 

 rate the roots, and plunge them into a box of ashes, barley chaff, 

 or sand, to protect them through the winter. Plant them out in 

 May. 



Dahlias grow from cuttings, which require care and a hot-bed 

 to do well, but they multiply themselves very sufficiently without 

 that trouble. 



It is a great perfection to see every tall plant in a flower-garden 

 well staked, and trimmed from dead straggling shoots. Let no 

 branches trail upon the border, but, as in the ease of Chrysan- 

 themums, cut away the lowest branches or shoots, that each 

 plant may stand erect and neat in its order, without intermed- 

 dling in its neighbor's concerns. There will be plenty of em- 

 ployment all through the summer in watching the growth of 

 your plants, in cutting away decayed stems, and trimming off 

 dead leaves. Let nothing remain in the flower's way after the 

 brightness of its bloom has past by : cut off the drooping flower 

 before it runs to seed, which only tends to weaken the other 

 flowers, and leave only the finest flower to produce seed on each 

 plant. 



Perennials grow remarkably fine always in newly turned-up 

 ground, but they gradually degenerate if they are allowed to re- 

 main above two years without replacing the substance they have 

 exhausted in the soil. Add every year to that substance, by 

 liberal supplies from the compost heap. 



Be careful to multiply your supply of jasmines, honeysuckles, 

 &c, by cuttings in their due season. 



I subjoin a list of the hardier sorts of fibrous rooted Perennials, 

 eligible to adorn a garden, from which my readers may stock 

 their borders. 



