chap, viii.] PERENNIALS. 
261 
pegged-down shoot, should not be kept too 
moist; as layers of herbaceous plants, parti¬ 
cularly where the stem has been partly slit 
through, are very apt to rot. The same 
remark holds good as to cuttings; and they 
should generally have fewer leaves left on, 
than cuttings of trees and shrubs. Many 
plants produce offsets, such as the potentilla, 
the wild geranium, &c,, and these only re¬ 
quire separating from the parent, and plant¬ 
ing in spring; all the flower-buds should, 
however, be pinched off the first year, to 
strengthen the plant, and to encourage it to 
send down roots. Suckers are treated in 
exactly the same manner as offsets. Division 
of the roots is, how T ever, the most common 
way of propagating perennials. To do this 
the plant is generally taken up, and the roots 
pulled asunder if dry, or cut into pieces if 
fleshy, and replanted; care being taken to 
cut off any part of the fibrous roots that may 
have been wounded, or broken, by the re¬ 
moval. The plant itself is also generally 
pruned or cut in, and some of its leaves are 
taken off before replanting, and carefully 
shaded and watered till it has recovered 
i 
