INTRODUCTION. 
The plants I propose to treat of in the present work are principally those which remain several 
years in the ground without requiring to be taken up and replanted ; flowering every summer, and 
generally dying down to the ground in winter, but when they do so, springing up again from the root 
in spring. These plants are seldom raised from seed, and when they are, they do not flower till the 
second or third year ; but they are generally propagated by dividing the roots either in autumn, when 
the plants have done flowering and are in a state of repose, or in spring, just before the young shoots 
begin to grow. The latter is the most general period. 
When a Perennial plant is increased by division, it is not necessary to take up the whole plant, but 
a portion of it may be divided by the spade ; or the earth may be cleared away from the roots on one 
side, and a portion separated from the principal mass with a gardener's knife. The principal points to 
be attended to in both cases are— to have several buds attached to the portion of the root which is 
removed ; to divide the part taken away from that which remains by a clean cut, so as not to leave a 
bruised or ragged portion of either stem or root ; and to take up the whole of the fibrous roots of the 
part removed, to their full extent, as the spongioles, through which alone the plant can take up 
food, are at the extreme point of the fibrous roots, and if they are broken off, the plant will suffer 
considerably, from its being forced to exist without food till it can form new ones. If, on the contrary, 
the portion removed be taken up carefully, with all its roots and their spongioles uninjured, and 
planted in a suitable soil, it will grow rapidly ; and its flowering will not be at all checked by its 
removal. 
Besides the fibrous-rooted Perennials, I shall include in the present work the Biennials ; that is, 
plants which do not flower till the second year after sowing, and which last for a few years afterwards, 
