NOTES OF A WILD GARDEN. 109 



catches the drainage of the slopes around it. The moist ground, cool 

 shade, and northern exposure of this basin, forms an ideal spot for a 

 fernery. 



Thus there were provided a meadow and a grove, two very neces 

 sary adjuncts of a wild garden. 



Crossing an intervening open space toward the south after leaving 

 the grove, the top of the hill is reached. Here stands an aged white 

 pine, the only survivor of a fire which swept over the place some years 

 before. The blackened trunk, and upper branches extended imploringly, 

 tell of its struggle for life On this knoll the soil is dry and poor, 

 covered with a growth of small trees and heath plants. This is called 

 Heath Hill. On the continuation of this knoll to the east stands a 

 small summer cottage overlooking the St. John river and the Nerepis 

 hills to the north. Sloping from the cottage toward the river is a 

 cultivated field in which and along its borders may be placed those 

 plants requiring full exposure to sunlight. 



In this garden there have been about five hundred native species 

 of flowering plants and feins, many of which were in situ, while 

 others have been planted during the last ten years ; of these about 

 ten per cent, have disappeared, or failed to grow through lack of 

 proper conditions or the perils incident to long transportation, as the 

 transfer of plants has been made chiefly in the summer months ; so 

 that not quite one-half of the flowering plants of the province can be 

 seen in this space of nearly two acres. But little progress has been 

 made in planting the grasses, sedges, rushes, and aquatic plants. The 

 results in regard to the latter are especially disappointing, although 

 considerable labor has been expended on them. The (at times) tur- 

 bulent little stream has shown no disposition to be led into quiet 

 ponds or stretches of pool. It has even carried away — root, stem and 

 branch — the plants placed too confidingly within the limits of its bed, 

 and all attempts to secure its co-operation, or at least a passive non- 

 resistance in the scheme, have resulted in failure. 



There is a larger representation of ferns in the garden than any 

 other class of plants. Nearly all of the forty species and varieties 

 found within the limits of the province were living and flourishing 

 during the past summer. The trees and shrubs are also very well 

 represented. Out of the eighty species found in the province, more 

 than sixty are growing and in good condition, and in a short time I 

 hope to have a complete representation of our forest trees and shrubs 



