82 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
withstanding the smoke. Special mention should also be 
made of a tree, the golden varnish tree, which here, as else- 
where, has proved itself particularly hardy under adverse 
conditions. The joy of having a garden of one’s own is shown 
by the fact that although the owner has traveled extensively 
in this and other countries, he prefers his garden to any he 
has ever seen. 
“The owner of a back-yard garden in the 6100 block of 
Westminster Place attributes her success in her fight against 
adverse city conditions to heavily fertilized soil. She dug 
down three feet, laid on three feet of fertilizer, and replaced 
six inches of top soil. Every fall she covers her beds with 
leaves which are spaded into the soil the following spring. 
She considers her yard of 69 x 44 feet too small to devote any 
space to bushes except to hide the ash pit, so it is bordered by 
irregularly shaped beds about six feet wide. Built on to the 
back of the house and extending into the garden is a little 
vine-covered garden house, 9 x 16 feet, in which are her collec- 
tion of fish and a few plants. A table and some chairs, 
shaded by a great striped umbrella, make a very cozy spot 
from which to enjoy the garden at one’s ease. As the owner 
will allow only the healthiest plants to stay and has limited 
herself to a few kinds, the effect is very rich. Tulips, iris, 
peonies, larkspur, and columbine predominate. 
“In the western part of town a stately old house towers 
over spacious grounds and is in turn lorded over by a 
magnificent aged elm which doubtless has served as a land- 
mark for many decades. In the rear of the property a steep 
bank slopes down into the gorge where the ecar-line has cut 
its way. This bank is terraced with narrow paths, between 
which wild flowers, lilies-of-the-valley, azaleas, vines, huge 
magnolias, catalpas, and other trees and shrubs form a veri- 
table woodland. The delightful disregard with which the 
lilies-of-the-valley have spread over into the pathways and 
the phlox and Virginia creeper have ventured out from their 
original confines and with which the shrubs have grown into 
surprising confusion increases the charm of the garden’s 
aging beauty. Crowning this bank is a rock garden with 
meandering stream, shaded by magnolias and crossed by tiny 
