pediums.
Violets.
Poinsettias.
Geraniums.
Chrysanthemums.
Lilies of the valley.
Roman hyacinths.
Coelogyne (orchid).
Narcissus in variety.

=The cost of a flower is always in proportion to its blooming time.= If
lilies of the valley are wanted in August, they must be paid for heavily,
as retarded bulbs (those which have been kept in ice) are used to produce
them.

CHAPTER XVI

The Propagation of Plants

_By dividing--By cuttings--By seeds--By layers._

=Propagation may be affected in various ways=, of which division is
perhaps the easiest. It must be done very carefully, or decay will set in.
Some plants lend themselves to this form of propagation very readily; in
others, the root stock is single and obviously resents division, wherefore
it is better to try another plan. The Michaelmas daisies are good
instances of the first kind; their roots are fibrous, and soon take to the
new soil; it is tap-rooted plants which dislike division so much.

=CAREFUL DIVISION.= It is advisable to divide most plants in the growing
season, which is from spring to early autumn; if it is done in the winter
months, each piece frequently remains quite inert and eventually rots. The
plant should be taken up, with a fork by preference, and then pulled
carefully apart with the hand. =The smallest fragment of the old white
anemone will grow=, but few plants will stand quite so much division. Each
piece should be well watered as it is planted, and if the sun is hot some
shade improvised. Such things as _delphiniums_, _phloxes_, _campanulas_,
and quick-growing subjects in general, should not be left too long without
being divided, or the flowers will dwindle, and the plants become
straggling in habit.

A good many plants which might be propagated by =division= of the roots
are propagated instead by cuttings, as the flowers come finer in every
way, and of course this method suits many plants which cannot be divided.
Chrysanthemums present few difficulties; though the ultimate growth of
this Japanese plant entails a vast amount of labour (if prizes are the
object in view), yet cuttings from them are the easiest things possible to
strike, even easier than a geranium, as there is no damping off. =Cuttings
are generally struck under glass=, this method being the surest, even with
hardy plants. The shoots selected should be well ripened, and the cut made
squarely below a joint and be =taken with a "heel"= if poss