THE PLANT WORLD UNDER CARE. 



49 



of a botanical friend. That portion of the 

 garden was soon after dug up by an in- 

 truding skunk in search of grub worms. 

 And although my garden is in a thickly 

 settled part of the city, not far from its 

 centre, that citified yet uncivilized, en- 

 tomological skunk persisted in his mid- 

 night maraudings in spite of traps skil- 

 fully and craftily set. But he had one 

 merit. He was industrious. He dug 

 and he dug, and he dug, — till evidently 

 there were no worms left to pay for 

 further work. Then I dug. I dug 



up the entire section, using some of the 

 earth to fill a lower corner of the cold 

 frame. That was the last of the "live- 

 forever" until I saw it almost a year 

 afterwards growing serenely among the 

 weeds in my cold frame. 



But can it be possible, I thought, that 

 this plant is a second generation of that 

 supplied last year by the florist. I had 

 supposed, because it came from the flor- 

 ist, that it was a dainty and delicate thing. 

 I hastened to the botany and found the 

 book claiming that this particular species 

 is not hardy at the north, though mighty 

 hard to kill. Tn that particular respect, 

 basing what I know of the plant on cir- 

 cumstantial evidence, I was inclined to 



render a verdict that the botany is 

 wrong. But upon second thought 1 de- 

 cided that I had no evidence against the 

 botany, as 1 had shovelled in that earth 

 before cold weather arrived, and, thanks 

 to the skunk, and to chance, I had 

 put the plant under the protection of 

 glass for the winter. I returned to the 

 botany, and gained better admiration for 

 its accuracy. Sedum, from Latin sedeo; 

 that is, it "sits on rocks, walls, etc." 

 Yes, and upon dry laboratory tables, too, 

 and thrives as luxuriantly as in the 

 ground. I haven't the slightest doubt 

 that it would "sit" with equal serenity 

 and happiness upon a rock. Later on, 

 when the rosy-purple buds were bursting 

 from the broad cymes, I cut two pieces 

 from the luxuriant plant in the cold 

 frame and pinned them on the laboratory 

 wall and there they budded and bloomed 

 in a beauty that was peculiarly attract- 

 ive, and an interest that was intense. I 

 can fully sympathize with Mr. Siebold 

 ( who he was 1 do not know ) for ex- 

 perimenting with the plant so extensively 

 as to get his name attached to it, for I 

 am indebted to him and to Japan for 

 producing such a beautiful novelty as 

 Sedum Sieboldii, the live-forever. 



THE SEDUM SIEBOLDII, "GROWING" AND BLOOMING, THOUGH 

 CUT AND PINNED TO A WALL. 



