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MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 83 
bridges. Vine-covered benches offer one an opportunity to 
enjoy this feature which is all too rare in city gardens. 
‘‘The foregoing gardens indicate that there is no reason, 
except lack of inclination, for failing to beautify the back- 
yard and, incidentally, the community, if one keeps to simple 
design and to plants that have been proved to be defiers 
of smoke.”’ 
BEAUTIFYING A RAILROAD STATION 
‘‘Gardening in the city is, at best, a difficult undertaking, 
and one often becomes so discouraged after a few experiences 
that no further attempts are made to find the plant or plants 
that will flourish under these conditions. 
‘It would be difficult to find any location, because of 
almost continuous smoke and poor soil, more undesirable for 
plant growing than the banks along a railroad track and yet 
plants are growing and blooming on some railroad banks in 
St. Louis. Three years ago the Missouri Pacific Railway made 
an attempt to beautify its Tower Grove station by planting 
several of the commoner sorts of tall bearded iris, principally 
Iris Kochii and an undetermined variety known to the local 
trade as ‘Bluebird.’ The plants are set in a long bed between 
. the platform and the retaining wall, and while there is a 
narrow crack of sky directly overhead most of the sunlight 
is shut off by the train shed to the south. In this most 
difficult of situations they have not only bloomed but the 
roots have actually increased somewhat in size during the 
three years. Across the tracks from the station and at several 
points in the railroad yards iris beds were planted in full 
sunlight and in spite of smoke and cinders they have made 
fairly satisfactory clumps. It is an unusual but an en- 
couraging sight to see these beds in the springtime, a mass 
of purple and lavender bloom against the bare waste of the 
railroad yards. 
‘A vine which is doing well in the same location is the 
matrimony vine (Lycium). With its fine leaves and brilliant 
fruit it is decidedly ornamental and its thrifty growth at the 
Tower Grove Station shows that it can conquer adverse 
situations. As the head gardener for the railroad station 
