ire is to keep them within bounds,
removing decayed portions as they appear and avoiding their having too
much moisture.

The perennial border plants, besides those included above, are very
numerous; the directions for cultivation admitting, from their
similarity, of the following general rules:--

_Propagation_.--Although some few will admit of other modes of
multiplication, the most usually successful are by seed, by suckers, or
by offsets, and by division of the root, the last being applicable to
nine-tenths of the hardy herbaceous plants, and performed either by
taking up the whole plant and gently separating it by the hand, or by
opening the ground near the one to be divided, and cutting off a part of
the roots and crown to make new the sections being either at once
planted where they are to stand, or placed for a short period in a
nursery; the best time for this operation is the beginning of the rains.
Offsets or suckers being rapidly produced during the rains, will be best
removed towards their close, at which period, also, seed should be sown
to benefit by the moisture remaining in the soil. The depth at which
seeds are buried in the earth varies with their magnitude, all the pea
or vetch kind will bear being put at a depth of from half an inch to one
inch; but with the smallest seeds it will be sufficient to scatter them,
on the sifted soil, beating them down with, the palm of the hand.

_Culture_.--Transplanting this description of plants will be performed
to best advantage during the rains. The general management is
comprehended in stirring the soil occasionally in the immediate vicinity
of the roots; taking up overgrown plants, reducing and replanting them,
for which the rains is the best time; renewing the soil around the
roots; sticking the weak plants; pruning and trimming others, so as to
remove all weakly or decayed parts.

Once a year, before the rains, the whole border should be dug one or two
spits deep, adding soil from the bottom of a tank or river; and again,
in the cold weather, giving a moderate supply of well rotted stable
manure, and leaf mould in equal portions.

Crossing is considered as yet in its infancy even in England, and has,
except with the Marvel of Peru, hardly even been attempted in this
country. The principles under which this is effected are fully explained
at page 27 of the former part of this work; but it may also be done in
the more woody kinds by grafting one or more of