Plants are propagated either by seed, or by division. When they are to be propagated by _seeds_, the ground must be either dug or forked over and made level. It is then firmed by beating it with the flat part of the spade, rolling it, or in any other manner; and the seeds are scattered over it, if they are to be sown broad-cast, and covered with earth the same thickness as themselves. When seeds are to be sown in drills, a narrow furrow must be made, by drawing a stick along the ground in a straight line, or in any other way so as to make the bottom of the furrow firm, and the seeds must be dropped into it at regular distances. The furrow is then filled in, so that the seeds may be covered to the same depth as their own thickness; and the earth is slightly pressed down, and afterwards raked over. Larger seeds are sown in separate holes made by a dibber, as are the sets of potatoes; but the after processes are the same in all. Bulbs and tubers are also planted in the same manner; taking care that the eyes of the tubers are uppermost, and the flat part of the bulbs downwards. In planting Ranunculus tubers the claws should be downwards, and if any are broken they should be cut off smooth with a sharp knife. There are several ways of propagating plants by division, viz. taking off suckers, making layers and cuttings, and budding, grafting, and inarching. Propagation by _suckers_ is very simple. Many plants have a portion of their stems under ground, from the buds in which new upright stems rise into the air and fibrous roots descend into the ground. It is thus only necessary to divide the horizontal underground stem by the spade, or by opening the ground till the stem is found, and then cutting it through with a knife, and to take up the young plant which has sprung from it carefully and without injuring its roots, cutting off the remains of the old plant before the new one is replanted. Suckers sometimes spring from the collar of the old plant, and when this is the case they require more care in removing them, to avoid injuring the plant from which they spring. _Runners_ are suckers proceeding from horizontal stems above ground, and _offsets_ are the suckers of bulbs, as they proceed either from the root-plate, which is the compressed stem of the hyacinth, or from the main body of the corm, which is, in fact, the stem, as in the crocus. _Layers_ are produced by imitating the process of nature in making suckers; as, in making layers, a joint of the upper stem is buried in the ground, and kept moist to induce it to throw out roots; the buried stem being generally slit or twisted at the joint, so as to prevent the return of the sap, and to occasion it to expend itself in roots instead of circulating in its ordinary way through the branch. As soon as a layer has produced roots it becomes the same as a sucker, and may be treated in exactly the same manner.