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Spraying Don'ts: Plants

The general reach deep into the soil, nor does it cover the entire area. best soil for these plants is one which is friable and not too compact. This is the reason for spading every two or three years. Plants may be dug up and separated by hand or thinned out in the beds by cutting with a clean, sharp spade or trowel and removing the excess plants. Replanting should be done in fresh soil if possible, or some new soil and bone meal would better be worked in. Care should be taken in the replanting that the crown of the plant is not smothered. It is equally fatal to the plant to be set too low or too high. Divide and replant in the spring those fall-blooming sorts which continue in full bloom until late in the season, such as chrysanthemums and anemones, and all fleshy-rooted plants except the peony. (For the peony and the iris in particular, and for planting perennials in general see Pages 39 and 47.) The best time of the year for lifting and separating perennials in general is probably the fall. The early-flowering perennials like some of the irises and the leopard's bane should give the best result by dividing and transplanting shortly after they have completed their flowering period. One objection to fall planting, however, is that the smaller plants heave out if planted too late or are apt to get lost during mulching or in the "cleaning up" work of the spring. Plants with heavy tops or fleshy roots in general, except the iris and the peony, are more liable to rot if planted in the fall. If the planting of MAINTENANCE them is done at this season it should be begun in the latter part of August, if possible. The regular mulching, so necessary for all plants gust, set in the autumn, should not be forgotten when the winter comes on. During the summer a fine mulch of some sort may be kept on a perennial border to good advantage as it prevents loss of moisture, saves labour otherwise necessary in cultivating, stops spattering of mud over the leaves of smaller plants, and prevents baking of the soil after rains. FERTILIZING PERENNIALS AND ANNUALS. Perennials need a great deal of food and should have plant food to restore soil fertility. Such heavy feeders as phloxes and peonies should receive applications of bone meal and liquid manure. Such applications when the plants are in bud will frequently improve the size and quality of the flowers. Manure for fall mulching will also enrich the plants. The finer part can be worked into the beds during the spring, but care must be taken not to injure or destroy roots or smaller plants. Peonies and irises in general, like all plants with thick, fleshy roots or rootstocks, are sickened by manure. Bone meal is perfectly safe to use and is in every way the best fertilizer for them. On the other hand, the Japanese irises, with their fibrous roots, revel in cow manure. They, like iris longipetala, are indifferent to lime which to all other moisture-loving irises, with the exception of the spuria group, is objectionable. Beds must be kept entirely free from weeds until fall. Where mulch is not maintained around the plants cultivation should be kept up, especially after a rain, to prevent evaporation. In the development of the annual flower garden the soil should be thoroughly spaded over each spring and well pulverized. A good coating of well-rotted manure should be thoroughly spaded into the soil to a depth of four inches to eight inches. During the flowering season of these plants it may become necessary, on account of the lack of sufficient food, to supply some quick-acting fertilizer such as sheep manure or dried blood which will force their growth and assist greatly in developing larger and more abundant flowers. A slight sprinkling of sheep manure or dried blood around each of the plants will be sufficient. It may be advisable to repeat this fertilizing operation at intervals of three or four weeks during the flowering season. Nitrate of soda is sometimes used as a plant stimulant. It is much more dangerous, however, than either sheep manure or dried blood because an overdose is very apt to burn and injure the plants.